MTG: The next Titan
by deathbytaco1
Summary: What happens when a Planes Walker Spark ignites while being corrupted by an Eldrazi Titan? Will Damion become a mindless follower of the Titan or will he become something more than your average Planes Walker? Follow the young half breed as he travels the multiverse with a new purpose, but little does he know what the future holds for him and the multiverse.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome to my Magic The Gathering Story, this will be taking place during Battle for Zendikar and continue from there. But the first part of the chapter will be a Bio and introduction to how my character get involved in mtg. This is an OC story that will follow the main Gatewatch story, if that doesn't sound like something for you, leave now or give it a shot. Hope you like Eldrazi.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own MTG, MTG belongs to wizards of the coast, I own my OC and this story.**

 **If there is any errors with my grammar or spelling please let me know.**

 **Also PLEASE make sure you know about MTG and it's lore before reading and if you chose not to then just google the names.**

 **Bio**

 **Name: Damion, Envoy of The End**

 **Race: Eldrazi Demon**

 **Mana: Colorless**

 **Abilities:** **Can create Eldrazi scions, can turn other creatures into Eldrazi, and if injured or weakened he can drain an Eldrazi and heal any wound and replenish energy. Can morph his physical form to a more Eldrazi look or a more human look while still having demonic features on both. He can assume the form of any Eldrazi aside from the Titans, and can create weapons that are Eldrazi themselves.**

 **History: Damion was born on the Plane of Korit (just made it up, it is similar to Innistrad but less supernatural), Damion was born half human and half demon** **which wasn't exactly the best. Damion was abandon by his mother who hated him and didn't want him. He was left to grow up for 12 years being hated every where he went, he hides his demonic features to try and avoid ridicule or getting hurt but it doesn't last long. One day Damion's life changed forever, giant monsters appeared one day and seemingly drained the life from his world where ever they go. Damion finds himself in what's left of an abandon town, he is surrounded by Eldrazi and fighting for his life, he doesn't notice the Titan Emrakul approaching the town.**

I rip the last of the creatures in half and fall to my knees panting. I smile at my accomplishment, I had successfully protected my home. A large crash causes me to look up, a large purple tentacle was wrapped around the edge of the town, trapping me in. I follow the tentacle up, only look in horror at the colossal creature that floats above me. I had no time to think on this because an immense pain filled my head, I grab the sides of my head and scream in pain. I felt every part of my body in unbearable pain. I opened my eyes and saw my arms were growing bone fragments similar to the creatures, I felt something start to cover my face and my hands and fingers started to turn into armored 3 prong hands and my vision started to diminish. Before I can see anymore I feel a surge of energy from inside me, a blinding light covers the area as my vision goes black.

Emrakul looked down at the newest addition to her brood, this hybrid that had killed hundreds if not thousands of other Eldrazi. Corrupting him made Emrakul smile, if she could, Emrakul turned and mentally ordered her newest creation to follow. She was a bit disappointed that her newest creation wouldn't be as good at what he was before because now he was nothing but a mindless follower. She suddenly stopped when she noticed the boy wasn't following her, he hadn't even moved. She moved back towards the town and moved closer to get a better look at the boy. The 12 year old boy was on his knees, his head was covered in a white bone mask that resembled one from Ulamog's brood, white hair hung from the back of his head, he now had grey wings structure with purple flaps. His arms were covered in bone armor and his hands were now 3 large claws, farther up his arm he had tentacles flailing behind him, he had on dark grey bone armor covering his chest and lower body. His legs were also covered in armor, his feet had 2 spikes for toes and another one coming from his heels.

Emrakul once again ordered the boy to stand and follow, but once again the boy did not respond. Emrakul was confused, this had never happened before, why wasn't the boy responding to her commands? Emrakul summoned one of her smaller Eldrazi to investigate the boy, small rat like Eldrazi crawled around the boy searching for anything that would interest their master. After a few minutes the boy's mask cracked and fell in front of him the smaller Eldrazi moved back, while Emrakul could only look at him with curiosity. The boy had two bone fragments on his cheeks, his eyes were a dark purple with specs of pink in them, and he now had fangs which could be seen in the boys mouth which hung open. The boy slowly looked up at the Titan with a blank stare before he spoke to her. "Who are you?" He asked.

Emrakul, not use to conversation, hesitated before responding, **"I am the beginning, I am the end, I am the eternal infinity, I am Emrakul. This world is mine and all will be one, all will be Emrakul."** She said to the boy who only stared back, he then looks down at himself before looking back at her, "What am I?" He asks with concern and fear. **"You are mine."** She then summons more Eldrazi to carry the boy with her as she went back to consuming the plane. Later Emrakul approaches a large city, she soon sensed the boy giving off lots of anger, she thinks for a moment going over what she saw inside his head before smiling. **"Would you like to take your revenge on them?"** She asks already knowing the answer. "More than anything." He says with rage. **"Then I will let you destroy this place, and if you do well I will teach you how to control your new abilities, take some of my brood and corrupt the city, leave no survivors."** The boy then led thousands of Eldrazi into the city, slaughtering everyone in his path. When Emrakul arrived the city crumbled to rubble and the area was drained of its mana.

Everywhere the Titan went the boy followed as Emrakul devoured more mana, she taught the boy more and more about what he was and how he had unlocked what was called a Planeswalker Spark when she tried to corrupt him. The boy soon learned that Emrakul would have to leave him but she explained that since she corrupted his spark as it ignited, he might be able to travel with her to the Blind Eternities and to the next plane. Damion was happy to know he could travel with his Titan and the other 2. Eventually the Plane of Korit began to collapse in on itself, Damion then left his home plane with the Eldrazi, ready to travel to the next plane.

As time went on, Damion went to countless planes with the Titans, never ageing and killing whoever he was told to and consuming mana. But then, it happened. The Titans and Damion had arrived on a plane rich with mana, Damion had discovered the plane was called Zendikar. As the Titans continues to consume mana, none of them seemed to notice the strange floating rocks surround them. Before anyone could react all the floating rocks started to glow blue, Damion wanted to investigate but soon found himself unable to move, his body was turning to stone with the Titans, He shouted with rage before his vision turned black.

Time passed as Damion and the Titans remained imprisoned on Zendikar, but one day there, the seal on the prison was broken, allowing some of the smaller Eldrazi to reek havoc on the Plane. Damion was freed before the the Titans and went to get more Eldrazi to help free the Titans. After finding some powerful Eldrazi, he returned to the prison only to find the Titans were free, Ulamog walked in one direction while Kozilek went in the other. Damion joined Emrakul as she regained her strength, Emrakul eventualy left the plane but not before telling Damion to stay on the plane for now. A few years past, Damion had spent a great deal of time leading hordes of Eldrazi to conquer continents, he wore his mask most of the time and became easily recognized on the plane, he earned the title Envoy of the End due to every time he is seen, death follows.

Right now Damion was trying to find Ulamog, since Kozilek was underground and Emrakul was in the Blind Eternities, Ulamog was the only thing that could tell him what to do for now. He was following the trail of decayed land till he spotted the Titan in the distance. Damion grins, then puts on his mask and flies as fast as he can towards the Titan.

 **/LINE\\\**

 **Damion pov**

I fly up to Ulamog and reach out to him mentally, Ulamog turns towards me. **"** **Damion,"** The voice of Ulamog was deep and ancient, it was powerful inside my head. **"Why are you not with Emrakul?"** He asked not stopping his advances on the area. "She told me to stay here for now, figured I had done enough on my own for now and wanted to see if you wanted me to do anything." Ulamog stopped in his path, he then points to something in the distance. **"Something is killing off my brood, go there and bring whatever it is under our control or kill it. Drain the mana and then meet me where Kozilek and I cross paths."** He turns back towards the direction he was going before and continues his path of destruction. I turn towards where he pointed and fly off.

As I fly, I call out to any Eldrazi. Most of them listen to me unless they already have a job, soon I had a small army following me. When I finally arrive at the area I land and look around. Soon the Eldrazi horde I assembled start to search the area, I walk around for about 5 minutes before I spot something, several large hydras where tearing apart the last of the Eldrazi I brought. I walk towards the hydras. They each had about 5 heads that all snapped towards me roaring, then they all charged at me. I raise my hand and channel the magic my Titan taught me. Every single hydra stop dead in their tracks, then they start to writhe in pain. Tentacles started to shoot out of them from multiple parts, their bodies started to warp and mutate into a more appealing image. Their skin turned more purple and grey, they each grew additional limbs, some even grew more heads, soon they all started to meld together. I smile at the 47 headed hydra, its large body was supported by 6 massive legs that were covered in smaller legs, it had 5 tails and more tentacles than I could count were coming out of its back. Good, now I must meet up with Ulamog.

I land on one of the heads of the hydra, I have got to come up with a name for it. It starts to move towards, Sea Gate I believe it's called. Once the City comes into view my eyes widen Ulamog was starting to turn to stone inside of a ring of those glowing blue rocks. Before I could order the hydra to attack the voice of Ulamog once again speaks to me. **"Damion, listen carefully."** As I listen to his orders I smile, I order the Hydra to tunnel underground as I fly towards the Titan.

 **No pov With the Planeswalkers and the Army**

As the the Planeswalkers argued about what to do with the Titan, it was cut short when an ungodly roar sent shock waves throughout all of sea gate. Everyone covered their ears in pain, when the noise died down everyone looked around for the source of the noise. Jace Beleren was the first one to notice the small flying Eldrazi that flew in front of the imprisoned Titan. Everyone soon took notice of the single Eldrazi, after a minute, blue and green flames covered the Eldrazi, the same happening to Ulamog. A exact copy of Ulamog, the only difference being it was made of fire, appeared around the small Eldrazi, it stood the same height of the Titan but the avatar turned its head to look around sea gate. Then it did something nobody expected to happen, it spoke.

A voice that radiated power spoke. **"I wish to speak with the** **leader of Zendikar."** Everyone looked towards Gideon who walk towards the Titan. "I lead the people of Zendikar! What do you want!?" Gideon shouted at the Titan. **"Ah, Gideon Jura, you and your friends are a long way from home."** The Planeswalkers were shocked, how did the Titan know about them? Gideon regained his composure, "How do you know me, and what do you want!?" He yelled back. **"I know every one of you that walks this Plane, Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Nissa Revane, Kiora, Ob Nixilis, and Ugin. I have been aware of your presence for some time, and I offer you this. If you surrender this world to the Eldrazi, I will see to it that every single living creature on Zendikar is moved to a new plane to live."** Everyone was shocked, but Gideon kept his cool and spoke back. "And if we don't?" **"Then you all will die with Zendikar."**

Gideon looked back at his allies and saw they were all getting ready for an attack. Nissa looked furious, Jace kept looking at the hedron prison to see if it could fail, Chandra's hands ignited. Gideon looked back at the Titan, "We will never surrender Zendikar to you!" He yelled and the rest of the army cheared with him. **"So be it."** The fiery avatar dissipated and the smaller Eldrazi roared. The ground shook, a large head of what seemed to be a large lizard ripped out from the ground and swallowed 12 people whole before sinking back into the ground. The army panicked as Gideon tried to get them away, but most were to busy watching in horror as the hedron prison started to collapse.

 **/LINE\\\**

 **Damion pov**

I smile as I watch my pet devour random parts of the army. I smile as I finally found a name for it. _It that Devours_. I smile with Pride at my pet, but the moment was ruined when multiple arrows hit me in the chest. I look down at the archers that hit me and I'm about to dive towards them when a spike of pain shoots through me, pain that I only feel when a Titan is angry, and I know exactly who it is. " **WHO DARES TO COMMAND AN ELDRAZI TITAN, I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. RISE MY BROOD AND WARP ZENDIKAR TO RUIN."** My eyes widen under the mask, by the eternities, who was stupid enough to try and order a Titan? I watch as the ground starts to tear itself apart, it warps into unnatural shapes and a large figure rips through the ground and out into the open. The Titan Kozilek, had arrived.

I wasn't sure if I should be happy that he is here or concerned that he is angry. I turn back towards Ulamog who was being attacked by the army, he seemed to be on the brink of defeat, and I was not about to see it. I roar again to summon my pet. The ground shakes again and my hydra rips free of the ground and starts to slaughter the army, I look at my pet and can now clearly see it was nearly half as tall as the Titans themselves. I turn back to Kozilek who slices through a very large Octopus and OH MY GOD THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AN AMAZING ELDRAZI. Before I could go and greet the the Titan, multiple arrows embed themselves in my left wing causing me to plummet towards the ground. I mentally slap myself for being so careless, but I'm also really glad the my Titan/Mother wasn't here to see this. I crash into the gound and lose consciousness.

 **/LINE\\\**

I regain consciousness and I find myself bound by ropes and chains. I am being dragged by a group of soldiers who were arguing with one another. "Why don't we just leave this thing?" Said one of the soldiers dragging me, "Because you idiot, you saw what it did, the Titan spoke through this thing. Which means it must be important to them. We need to get far enough away so that when we kill this thing we have enough time to get away." I keep myself from laughing at the soldiers, the pain from the multiple stab wounds that now covered my body hurt like hell, purple blood flowed from my wounds and left a trail behind us. I notice that I could still see the Titans in the distance, to weak to do anything else, I let out an ungodly roar that causes the soldiers to strike me to get me to be silent, I look up and see that I had successfully gotten the attention I desired. I pass out once again.

I wake to fine myself chained to a tree, a large group of soldiers had gathered and they seemed to be getting ready for something. I cast a spell to warp the minds of the soldiers so they would be blind to the incoming threat. One of the soldiers holds a blade to my throat, "Any last words freak." I turn towards the man and my mask folds back to reveal my face, the man stumbles back in shock. "How about this." I state with a grin, "You let me go and I might not kill you." The soldiers laugh at me. "You think you can kill us? Look at yourself, your beaten and broken, how could you beat us?" "Oh not me, him." I remove the spell and the soldiers can now see the large fist of Kozilek descending upon them, they barely had time to scream as the Titan smashed his fist into the ground, killing everyone but me. Multiple Eldrazi come and free me from the chains, I grab one of the stronger ones and drain it. My wounds heal and my torn wing repairs itself, I grab onto Kozileks fist and he raised me to ride on his shoulder. "Thanks." I say to Kozilek as we headed back to Ulamog and my pet. "I appreciate the help." Kozilek gave his version of a nod and continued his path. I grin wickedly, time to see this world die.

Once we met up with Ulamog and my pet, I hop onto one of her heads, I could see many of them smiling as I land and some even tried nuzzling me. I guess she missed me. Soon enough we were moving across the plane once again devouring mana as we advanced.

As we moved across the plane, I started to think about my pet. When we kill this plane, I will have to leave her behind, unless. I place my hands on her head and channel as much mana as I could into her. Soon she was covered in a bright grey light and stated to shrink, soon I held a grey orb as big as my palm. The orb floated into my chest and I smiled, as of today I had my own brood, even if there was only one I was as happy as can be. Unfortunately I was exhausted from using so much mana that I couldn't stay in the air. Thankfully Ulamog caught me in his hand and put me on his shoulder.

Before I could thank him, all three of us stop and look in towards an uncorrupted part of the world, the three of us could sense an abundance of life energy from that direction. The titans turn and start to move in that direction.

 **Time Skip**

Once the army from before comes into view I can tell something is wrong. They're just standing there, why? Once we get close enough the army starts to retreat, foolish soldiers, there is no place upon this plane you can hide. Before I could even react, vines seemingly made of mana erupted from the ground and wrapped around the titans. I take flight but I found myself also wrapped in vines, the vines seemed to pull me in every direction, both physically and spiritually. I turn towards the source of the vines, I spot the planeswalkers from before.

Both titans attempted to free themselves from the vines, only for the vines to snap back and pull them to the ground. I look up at the titans who looked down at me, both reached as best they could towards me and ripped me free of the vines. I quickly fly up and launch a tentacle at each titan, one hit Ulamogs bone mask, while another one hit where Kozileks head should have been. I start to pull as much energy as I could from the titans into me, I soon felt a very familiar pressure, I turn towards the sky. The sky had turned a dark purple, no, the sky had been replaced by the titans true form. Those fools, their plan was to drag the titans from the Blind Eternities, they were messing with forces they could never understand. I could feel the presence of Ulamog and Kozilek spread across the plane and soon more Eldrazi than I had ever seen before fell from the sky, the spawn swarmed the planeswalkers in an attempt to stop the spell.

Come on come on. I said in my mind as I continue to pull more and more from the titans, I was not about to let them die here. Soon cracks appeared on the titans, showing they were weakened. I then pulled everything I could from the titans as possible, when I get the last of the energy, I see a bright white light approaching the titans. In that split second I disappeared as a blinding light exploded.

 **/LINE\\\**

 **Blind** **Eternities**

I open my eyes and I'm greeted by a familiar sight of the blind eternities, after all these years it hadn't changed. The Blind Eternities looked like the night sky, only there were more stars and turquoise clouds/smoke surrounded the stars and in between them as well. But I knew better, those stars, were the planes of the multiverse. I look down at an orb of light that was Zendikar, it had dimmed significantly since I first saw it, but the light was still bright enough to support life. I pull my eyes from Zendikar as two orbs of fire in my hands, one was a sea green while the other was a bright purple. The orbs moved in front of me and grew into the human forms of Ulamog and Kozilek. (They look like their statues on Zendikar, If you don't know what those are google _**Shrine of the Forsaken Gods**_ and you'll see what they look like)

In order to save the titans I had pulled their true forms into myself, the titans left behind on Zendikar were nothing but empty husks. As Ulamog and Kozilek regained themselves I remove my mask and reach out to my titan, almost immediately I get a response. **"Damion."** Said the voice of Emrakul in a calm and happy tone. **"You have returned."** Both of the titans and I teleport to where she was, once we arrived I see her with her wings spread open above a plane. When Emrakul sees me, she smiles and floats over to me, we embrace one another in a hug. I could feel her look through my mind to see what had happened while I was on Zendikar, as she finishes Emrakul looks at the the other titans with a frown. **"You two would have died had my son not been there, you have gotten sloppy and careless since I left."** Both titans looked away in embarrassment, she then looks back at me with a smile. **"I am also very proud that you have started your own brood Damion, even though it is one, you will gain more as time goes on."** She moves back over to the plane and spreads her wings, small purple threads extend from her wings and down to the plane.

 **"Why do you watch this plane instead of attack it?"** Asked Kozilek as we moved to look at the orb. Emrakul motioned for him to enter the plane, as he did a barrier appeared around the plane causing Kozilek to pull his hand back in shock. **"Something is preventing us from entering this plane."** Said Ulamog with curiosity, I stare in shock, what had the power to do this, to prevent the Eldrazi from entering a plane? **"Then we find another plane, what makes this one so special?"** Asked Kozilek in annoyance. Emrakul gave a frown, **"The one responsible for our imprisonment calls to us from this plane."**

 **"I WILL TURN HER TO DUST!"** Shouts Ulamog in anger. **"And you will have your chance, but first the barrier must be destroyed."** Emrakul turns towards me and motioned me forward, I move in front of her once more and she places a hand on my forehead. A spectral avatar of her Eldrazi form appears around my head before disappearing. **"This will allow you to talk to me while you are there. Destroy the source of the barrier so we can enter this world and have our retribution for our imprisonment."** I nod and move in front of the orb, before I planeswalk to the plane I turn back towards my titan. "What is the name of this plane?" I ask, curious as to where I'm going.

She smiled, **"Innistrad."**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Damion pov**

Once I arrive on the plane, pain shoots through me and I fall to my knees and clench my eyes shut. What the hell is this? After a while the pain goes away, I open my eyes and I see my hands. I see a nearby river and I move towards it, once I get close enough I look over myself, I looked like an average human at the moment. I had on loose black pants that stopped at my ankles, the pants had dark purple lines on the sides, I had on a black long sleeve shirt but below shoulders the sleeves were also a dark purple. My hair was short and white, I had on black shoes as well. My wings were hidden under my shirt and my fangs had shrunk so they weren't so noticeable. I was also a bit pale, and my head hurt a bit.

I stretch before starting to search for what I was here for, what was it again? I'll probably remember if I look around.

After a while my search turned up ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It had been almost a day since I got here and I was starting to get hungry, I was so distracted I had failed to notice several large wolf like creatures moving towards me. I had no warning as I was launched towards a dirt road and skidded across the ground. I stand back up but I find myself surrounded by the beasts. "Great." I say to myself before speaking to them, "Well!? Come and get me." I yell, I could probably take them, if I wasn't so hungry and had access to more of my magic.

The beasts start to circle around me, great, looks like I'm gonna need to try to do something, maybe I still had some mind magic I could use. I focus my magic and I can feel my eyes ignite with pure mana, I could see the outline of the grey fire that surrounded my eyes. The beasts grabbed their heads in pain as the started to bark in pain, I took this moment to run from them, that small burst was the best I could do at the moment. I needed to find somewhere to regain my strength, but first, I turn to look behind me as the beasts get over the pain and the start to follow me. I could only run as I was chased by the beasts.

As I run I hear the sound of thumping against the ground at a very quick pace, I look ahead if me and spot a crossroad, someone in a blue cloak like outfit with a dark brown jacket on him with strange designs on it was riding a horse while running from more of the creatures. Well, I guess I'm not the only one getting chased, wasn't planning on it but I ended up getting very close to the horse. I had no time to react as I felt something grab me by my shirt collar and put me on the back of the horse. "Hold on!" Said the man in a blue cloak as we ride from the beasts. As he steered the horse, I notice that a bright blue glow came from behind us, I turn and see a large blue bear seemingly made of light appears behind us. It lunged at the beasts, it took a few beast with it but it wasn't enough to stop the others.

The horse stumbles a bit, allowing the rest of the pack to get closer. As we got farther I saw one of the other creatures eyes turn blue for a moment before attacking what I can only assume was the leader. Many of the other beasts stayed back to watch the power struggle, now only one of the creatures was chasing us. I could hear the horse was exhausted, if we didn't find somewhere safe soon we were both gonna be in trouble. The path opened up and I spot a manor in the distance, I guess that's the destination, while I was focusing on the manor, the creature sliced across the back of the horse, as the horse fell, me and the man jumped from the saddle and rolled across the ground before getting back to our feet and running towards the entrance gate. We get to the gate and it was locked, I could here the beast had stopped eating the horse and we both turn to see the beast was now looking at us.

Its was covered in blood and starting to move towards us, I notice that the man was focusing on the lock and I could feel magic coming off him, he was a telepath. I watch as he focuses on the lock which clicks open a moment later, we both push against the gate, it was hard to push the gate open but we managed to open the gate with a painful scrapping of metal sound. We stumble in and fall to the ground inside the yard, the man kicks the gate closed and locks the gate once again. The creature slammed into the gate and we move away from the creatures claws. But it then stopped, and took a few sniffs before it ran in the other direction.

I fall onto my back as I look up at the sky, "What the hell is wrong with this plane?" A few moments pass before I pull myself up again. "What the hell were those things?"

"Are you a Planeswalker?" Asked the man.

I turn to look at him and give a smile, "Yup, names Damion. Thanks for the save by the way, I might not have made it if you hadn't shown up." I walk over to him and help him up, he smiles and accepts my hand. Once he's back on his feet he looks at me with a smile.

"My name is Jace Beleren, what are you doing here?" He asked.

I was about to say why I was here but I stop, something felt strange, I couldn't remember why I was here? "I can't remember. In fact I can barley remember anything." **_(Just in case some of you don't get what's happening, the barrier around the plane keeps Eldrazi out, and since Damion is technically an Eldrazi, all of his memories as an Eldrazi have been removed for the time being, as of now)_**. I start to panic a bit, why can't I remember anything!? I know I'm a Planeswalker and I have some crazy magic, the last thing I remember perfectly was fighting strange creatures then a larger one surrounded my home before a bright light, and now I'm here. I was freaking out but Jace puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Alright calm down." He said in a calm tone, I look at him, "What's the last thing you can remember?" I then explain what I recalled, as I explained more Jace seemed to get more and more concerned, I swear his eyes even started to glow blue and I got a slight headache, he then explains to me that what I had faced was the Eldrazi Titan Emrakul, once he finishes explaining what that was, he looked curious for a moment, "How exactly were you able to fight off the Eldrazi?"

I sigh, "I'll show you but you might not like what you see." I move back and my demonic features appear on me, my wings extended through hole in my shirt, my claws and fangs extend, they only appear for a moment before disappearing again. Jace looked shocked for a moment.

"Interesting." He said, which surprised me, that was a new one. "So you are part human and demon."

"You're not disgusted by me?" Like everyone else who I've ever met.

"Quite the contrary actually, I don't think I've met anyone like you before. If you would be willing, I could use your help here, and the Gatewatch could use someone like you, from what you said, you clearly have the skills and you have strong magic." I was confused for a moment, not sure what to do, Jace gives a small smile, "Just think about it."

"Alright, I'll think about it." After I said that I notice something moving near the manor, several zombies covered the area and pushed us back against the metal gate, the smell of the death cover the area, why does that not bother me? The zombies then part making a path for us to head towards the manor, we move towards the entrance, I notice that the rooms of the manor seemed to be lit up with a purple glow, weird, we walk up the stone steps to a large door. The door swung open to reveal a dark hallway, we stopped just before the entrance.

"Can we come in?" He asked no one in particular. Another zombie stepped out from behind the door, this one seemed to be dressed in a strange outfit, it motioned for us to follow them, Jace lowered his hood as we walked inside. The zombie led us to a large room which was illuminated by moonlight and spell craft, several zombies shuffled about, and a woman sitting on a throne in the room. She was dressed in a dark purple outfit, her skin was pale, her hair was black and seemed to be held back by a golden headband that curved down like a set of horns, and she had on a strange neck piece that covered her whole neck.

It looked like she had been reading a large book before she closed it and handed it to one of the Zombies, I could feel her magic and it was also in the zombies, so she was a necromancer. Neat. Something felt off about her though, I could sense the presence of something ancient was with her. She looked like she was about to speak but stopped when she spotted me, she watched me for a few moments before looking back at Jace. Have your friend wait outside, I only want to talk to you." She pointed at Jace.

Oh god you can feel the tension in the room, "I get the message." I say and raise my hands before giving a sly smirk, "Don't have to much fun while I'm gone." I swear I saw Jace flinch as the girl gave a devilish smile. I went outside and started to mess with my magic a bit, I created three purple orbs and they floated around my hand. I tried to cast some other spells, I don't know why but I tried to make a sword but it was black and started to disintegrate almost immediately.

I was trying to get it to last longer but a voice caused me to jump to my feet. **_"Damion?"_** I look around for the voice but I can't find the source.

"Who's there?" I ask hoping it was just my imagination.

 _" **Do you not remember?"**_ The voice sounded hurt.

"I don't know who you are but get out of my head!" I yell before a pain shoots through my head causing me to fall to the ground, I felt my body start to spasm from the pain, I tried to get myself up but I could barley move.

 **Emrakul pov**

I look through my sons memories to see what was wrong, at first I thought he was angry I left him on Zendikar but the more I looked the more concerned I became. All of his memories of being an Eldrazi were gone! He had no recollection he was my son or what we did for all that time. A few tears fell from my eyes, I cursed at the barrier that took my son from me. I wanted to go and restore him but I couldn't, the best I could do was mentally talk with him. If I was going to see my son again I had to find a way to destroy the barrier. I can't directly influence him without harming him from outside the plane, but I can put a few things in motion for when we arrive.

 **"Don't worry Damion, I will be there soon."**

 **Damion pov**

Once the pain stops I jump to my feet, grey and purple magic covers my hands. I look around for whoever just did that to me, but I stop when I feel tears running down my face, "What the hell is going on? And why the hell am I crying?" I ask myself. I wave my hands and my magic disappears and I wait for Jace to come back out.

I was about to sit down but then I notice the wolf from before was on the other side of the gate. I smirked and waved, "Afraid of a run down house huh? guess you creatures are just wimps." The creature snarled before it jumped on the gate and managed to launch it self over and land perfectly.

I blinked a few times before I smirked, this is gonna be fun. The beast charges me and I do the same, once it tries to swing at me I drop to my knees and slide under the strike. I use the single moment I have sliding to summon a sword and slash its side. The blade was solid for a good second and managed to leave a visible cut on the creature before the blade turned to ash. One second, I can keep a blade solid for a single second before it disintegrates, so every moment counts. The wolf roars and charges me again, I smile and hold my hands out in front of me, god I hope this works.

Once the beast was close enough I materialize a large blade and slash at the beast before the blade disappears. The beast passed me before it stopped and I turn to look at it, a moment passed before the wolf fell to the ground and a massive cut appeared across its body. It was dead before it hit the ground. I went to go sit by the door and wait for Jace to come back. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long as the door started to open. I stood back up and looked at Jace, "Looks like we're staying the night." He said.

I looked at Jace, "Alright then, lead the way." I follow behind Jace who followed a zombie what was clearly a dungeon. "Wow, such hospitality." I say sarcastically.

"At least it's better than having to worry about Wolves and other horrors." I rolled my eyes but I knew he was right, I noticed that the zombies had brought us some blankets to sleep on, I grabbed a bunch of them and wrapped the blankets into a large ball and rested on it. I then pulled one over me and curled up in the blankets, this felt nice. "So, tell me about yourself." Said Jace. I yawn before I walk over to him, he looked confused but before he could say anythingI lean my head back before I head butted his head knocking him back. I saw a flash of his memories so I now know the basics about Jace and who he is. The same was for Jace, he had just received a burst of my memories, just the basics though cause I am a bit tired. "Was that really necessary?" Jace asked in pane.

"It was the fastest way to give you information, sorry. I'm tired and I need sleep." Jace nods in understanding while he rubs the spot I head butted him, he lays on the floor with his blanket and I drift off to sleep. It was one hell of a day.

 **No pov a few hours later**

As Damion slept his body started to glow a faint purple as his Eldrazi side tried to take form, but it was still being blocked by the barrier. But something else was happening as the Eldrazi side tried to return to Damion. An unknown distance away Avacyn was currently slaughtering a village with her angels, she was about to impale a screaming human but suddenly stopped when she felt a pulse throughout her body. To Avacyn the feeling was, strange to the Arc Angel. Avacyn looked in the direction of where the feeling was coming from, she then impaled the human before removing her spear. A single word entered her mind and she grinned.

"Damion."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Damion pov**

I felt a cold chill run up my spine, that was weird. I unwrap myself from these blankets and stretch, my wings spread out and flap a few times as my demonic features appear on me. I let out a yawn and stand up, I walk down the hallway till I turn the corner and walk into the lady from yesterday, I look up at her while she looks down at me. She didn't seem to know what to do because she just starred at me with a strange look. "Good morning." I say before walking down the hall towards what I can only assume was the kitchen. But I then stop when I feel something I haven't sensed in a while, I turn back to her and look her up and down, "Why are you contracted with 4 demons?" I ask her and she visibly flinches. "Being a Demon I can sense the contracts you have, but two of them have been severed."

"That is none of your concern child." She said clearly annoyed with me.

"Hey, I'm not a child. I'm 12." I say with determination, she laughs in response. I role my eyes and start to walk away again, I dealt with enough ridicule on Korit to know when someone was about to insult me and I didn't want to deal with that right now. I arrive in a kitchen and look around for some food, thankfully there was some fruit and bread for me to eat. I grab some for Jace and walk back towards him after making sure that woman was gone, I give Jace some food and he thanks me. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, I came to Innistrad to find Sorrin Markov to help with the Eldrazi. If anyone can help the Gatewatch with Emrakul he can, and the only lead I have is Markov Manor."

"Well if that's our only lead then lets go." I jump with excitement read to go.

"You want to come? Jace asked.

"Well I did say I would consider joining you so that means I need to stay with you, plus this might be fun."

"Alight then let's get ready to go."

I smile as I start to wonder what we were gonna find.

 **Time Skip**

Well, I was not expecting this.

The castle known as Markov manor was, as best I can describe, warped. Section of the building were floating in the air as if gravity had no hold in them, other places were tilted and in ruins, the bridge that connected to the castle was destroyed as well. "What the hell happened here?" I ask in shock, who had the power to do this, and why?" I ask Jace who didn't seem to have an answer at the moment, Jace recommended that we should examine the manor. I offered to get a view from above and Jace said that it would help in gathering information, so I extended my wings and launched into the air.

I saw Jace make his way into the manor while I looked around, I landed on top of a large section of the manor and look inside. I jump back in horror, hundreds of what I can assume to be vampires were stuck inside the walls, frozen like statues. I took a few steps back before I heard the sound of wings behind me, I turn to see what it was but no one was there. I scratch me head, "Am I hearing things again? First that ladies voice and now this." I hear the sound of wings again and I look to see what is causing it but overtime I look the noise stops and appears somewhere else.

I turn one last time and to my surprise I come face to face with a winged woman, an Angel to be precise. Her skin was pale and her hair was pure white, her outfit looked like a white dress with armor covering it, and instead of the usual white wings like the usual Angels her wings were black and blood stained. "Hello Damion." I was immediately on edge at how she knew my name, and the fact that she said it in a tone that sent shivers down my spine. I notice her wings were covered in blood and so was her weapons which were a scythe and a sword, "Come with me, Avacyn would like a word with you." I don't know who this Avacyn is but I could tell she was not someone I wanted to meet.

"How about no?" I say to her, several other angels drop down and surround me, each holding a blood covered weapon.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, she was very clear that you are to be brought to her. Alive." She said with a wicked grin.

"But I'm not sure why she would want an abomination like you." Another angel said, I'm not sure what she meant by "want" but I probably didn't want to find out. Anyway I was to mad at the angel calling me an abomination, the angels on Korit actually treated me better than this. At least they never insulted me, now that I think about it they were the only ones to treat me like a regular person.

I glare at these angels and show all of my demonic features, claws extend from the tips of my fingers, my fangs grow, I spread my wings as I feel a surge of energy course through me. "Try and take me, if you can." The first angel lunged at me and I stepped out of the way at the last second, I got up close to her and punched her in the gut causing her to let go of the spear. I grab the weapon and use it to block another blade that was aimed for my head, "Did you really think it was gonna be that easy?" I push their blades back and swing the spear to knock the angels away from me, I jump and fly towards another section of the floating castle snd look at the angles flying towards me. I throw the spear and it successfully hit the one of the wings of the black winged angel, she lost control and collied with the castle.

The next angel tried to cut me with her sword but I block with one of my own before it breaks. I summon another blade and try to hit the angel, but she was more skilled than I thought and she managed to cut my cheek. She smiled and I took that moment to cast a spell, cracks spread across the ground where she was standing before the ground gave way. I grabbed onto the edge so I didn't fall with her, I pull myself up and take to the sky. The angels that weren't injured flew after me, I flew around the floating stone castle looking for something I could use to my advantage. Finally I spot a large price of the castle that was perfect size for what I needed, I flew towards the floating ruble and fly inside. I land and cast a spell on the entrance before running down the hallway, all the angels make it inside before the entrance collapses in on itself. I run as fast as I can down the hallway before I finally see the exit, I cast another spell and the exit starts to crumble, "This is gonna be close." I say to myself.

Just before the hallway collapsed I jumped out the exit, trapping the angels inside. I flap my wings and float there while the angels scream to be released, I then remember the angel I injured. I fly back towards her and land next to her, she sees me and stands up, she looks to be in a lot of pain, I knew her wing was sensitive and the spear in it wasn't helping. She falls to her knees again before glaring at me, "Well? What are you waiting for?" She asked in anger, "Just kill me already."

I move towards her and she closes her eyes waiting for me to hurt her, but that's not what I was gonna do. I kneel down and put my hand on her shoulder, "I don't want to hurt you but removing that spear is gonna hurt so hold still." Her eyes snapped open and looked at me in shock, she didn't give any indication of refusal so I put my hand carefully on the spear, she flinched as I slowly pulled the spear out of her wing. Her body flinched and she whimpered slightly as I removed the weapon, once the spear was out she let out a gasp of relief and started breathing heavily. I held my hands over her wing and cast the strongest healing spell I knew while channeling as much mana as I could into her, the blood (that was hers) started to disappear as the wound on her wing started to close. Once I finished I leaned back and let out a sigh of relief, "There you go, good as new."

She looked at me and blinked a few times before looking back at her wings, she hesitantly moved her previously injured wing. She flaps it a few times before smiling and turning to look at me with a less insane grin, "Thank you." I was about to respond but her body was covered in a blinding grey light, I averted my eyes so I don't go blind, I feel a warm feeling in my chest before the light dies down.

I look back but the angel was gone, I scratch my head in confusion, "Where did she go?" I look around for a minute before I remember what I was here to do. I'm supposed to be helping Jace, I look around for her one more time before I go back to what I was supposed to do.

I fly up and look around at the ruble to see if there was any pattern to the destruction but I couldn't find anything. After a while I notice Jace was exiting the manor and I fly back to the bridge, I noticed he had a very elegant looking book that seemed out of place. "What's with the book?" Jace then explains what he discovered in the manor about how the book helped him realize how the angels went made and how someone destroyed Markov manor as a challenge to Sorin Markov. As he explains more I start to see how it all fits together.

After he finishes we start to walk away from the manor, Jace then starts to talk about the strange stones called cryptolyths and how they were all over the plane. After a few minutes we started to walk in silence, I couldn't help but wonder what happened in the manor to make him so quiet?

We made our way towards Gevoni, it's still evening and it was raining, I laughed a few times when Jace fell in the mud. I used my wings to keep me dry as we both conjured a light glowing blue and purple respectfully to allow us to see through the rain. Unfortunately Jace decide to read the journal while walking and what creeped me out the most was the fact that he started talking to the journal, I decided to ignore that. After a while I started to get concerned with Jace, he hadn't let the thing down since we reunited, we trudged through the muddy paths while I used my wings to keep myself mostly dry. Jace however had some trouble keeping his balance and I got a few laughs out of watching him walk into things or fall over, we eventually made it to a Gevany, I think it's called. It was a bit harder to get here through the rain than we thought it would be, the ball of light we both created only allowed us to see a few feet in front of us but that was it. Soon we heard voices in the distance and we started to move towards the voices, but we made it only a few feet before Jace pulled out the Journal again.

He opened it and started to carefully look through it, I watch as Jace moves over towards a rock and sits down on it, I guess we're taking a break for now. I sit down on a rock a good distance away, might as well try to figure a few things out. I wrap my wings around me as I start to wonder what happened to the angel, she was right in front of me before she disappeared, where did she go? I think to myself. But more importantly why do I feel like I've seen something like this before?

I grab my head as pain shoots through my head, before I even knew what was happening everything around me changed, I was high above the tree line of a lush jungle, filled with life. I could see so much beauty in this world, I looked down in shock, I was sitting on top of a massive hydra head. Before I could even ask what was going on the hydra turned into an orb of grey light before it flew into my chest.

My eyes snap open and I find myself wrapped back up in my wings, I put my hand over my chest where I saw the orb go, "What the hell was that?" I tried to focus on the point where the orb entered but a sharp pain shoots through my head causing me to stop. I shook my head and unwrapped myself to see that the mist had cleared and the moon was providing enough light to illuminate our path. Jace was currently starring at one of those monoliths. He suddenly seemed to realize something and jumped to his feet, he was grinning and it seemed he was relieved at the moment.

"What's up?" I ask him.

"For the first time since I got here things are starting to make sense."

"How so?"

"Look at the monoliths, they are all pointing towards one another in that direction." I look at the monoliths and I was surprised once I noticed it, how had we missed that before? Jace opens the book back up and flips through the pages till he comes across an accurate drawing of one of the stone monoliths. The page was labeled "Entry 643 Hunter's Moon." Most of the words used to describe it I barley understood but Jace seemed to understand it perfectly, Jace explained that it disrupted the flow of mana in the plane as well as create a magnetic field. Apparently the distortion of the mana lines could cause problems for being made of mana such as Angels, is that why they're going crazy?

Jace dragged his hand across the surface till it reached the tip, immediately a small pop and a few sparks shot out of the tip. Jace jerked his hand back as a thin trail of white smoke trailed from his glove. "Are you alright?" He asked the book, I let out a sigh, this guy needs to find a hobby away from books. He opened the book back up and flipped through it again, "Well, did you ever find out what these actually do? Or am I just following someone else path?" He continued to read through a few entries. Something about the moon being effected by something massive object no one could see. He let out a sigh as he kept reading.

"Hey what's wrong?"

"We found a path, we should follow it, I just-I wish I knew what exactly we were looking for." We both move to look over the ledge of a cliff with a small town at the bottom. We walk along the narrow foot path to the town, Jace and I felt are way around a bend in the path, and nearly collided with a fisherwoman.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you th—" Jace tried to apologize but she cut him off.

Her eyes affixed to his—wide and vacant with an unblinking stare that sent a shiver up my spine, that's usually not a good sign it that happened to a deamon.

"So...another come to listen to her call, hmm?" she asked slowly. "You've come to see her too?" Joy crept into her voice. "So many have arrived just today!"

"See her? See who?" Jace asked trying to get more information from her.

"She's finally here! Brought her feathered ones from the sky, tide came up right on with them! Broke right through the floodwalls, washed all of it away!"

"You've seen the tides shift, too?"

"Oh, we had no need for all those things, we've found...something so much more than us! Think of all these things we're holding onto, weighing us down. Living in these shells made of meat, carrying our worries, slogging forward day after day. She's up there now, waiting for us, waiting to take it all away for us, to usher in a new world!"

"Slow down...'she'? Who is 'she'? What is she bringing?"

"Jace I don't think she's in the right mental state to answer." I say to him as I recognized this as the beginning of influenced insanities first stage.

The fisherwoman barked out a laugh that lingered too long. "I was like you once. It's a terrible burden, knowing. So many questions, drowning in questions, and never enough answers! Now I've let them go, washed right out of my mind like the sea over shipwrecks. But once I'd wanted to know…things. Lots of things! Silly things. What is my greater purpose and will I ever achieve it? How will I die? When will winter end? Where does the eye stare? How many eyes? How many legs on the moon shrew—?"

She kept rambling random words until she gasped for breath like she hadn't breathed in ages.

Jace's eyes lit up blue as he reached his hand out towards the woman, I could tell he was going to read her thoughts, I just hope he's smart enough to avoid the insanity. After a while I started to get worried but before I could do anything his eyes snapped, his body fell to the ground as he grabbed his head in pain before he curled up on the ground. His eyes darted around the area as if he was looking for something that wasn't there.

The fisherwoman stumbled as she came to, locking eyes with Jace in a brief, knowing stare. After a few inaudibly murmured words, she scrambled to her feet with a guttural snarl and scurried down the path away from the coast.

"What the hell did you do in there? I ask him as he sits up.

"I wasn't able too find anything useful." He stated before we continued to walk. The trail ended on the rocky shores just north of the reef near a small fishing outpost. Its floodwalls, as the fisherwoman had mentioned, were nearly a foot underwater, and a thick shining layer of rotting marine slime coated what had once been the dock and its ships.

Boots caked in slime and sand, Jace walked into the shallows and let the waves pass over his feet while I used my wings to fly just above the water. Strange how it wasn't receding. South of the village, the moonlight shone down on a massive ring of jagged structures jutting up from the ocean, clawing at the waves and passing ships.

"The Drownyard," Jace said excitedly. "This is it! All the cryptoliths point here!"

Above the jagged ring was...still nothing? but I felt like there was so much more, I grabbed the side of my head as it felt like something had hit me but nothing did. Images of Eldrazi appeared in my vision before disappearing. What the hell?

"I thought you'd promised me something here! You told me I'd find something!" Jace hastily fished the journal out of his pocket and flipped it open.

He stared down into the empty, unfinished ring of stones dubiously. "Uh, exactly how large were you thinking this thing is?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask but I was ignored.

"Astral body? Moon-sized?" Jace looked down into the empty area above the ring. Was there something I was missing?

Jace flipped forward in the book, but clearly didn't find what he needed. "You can't stop now! We're so close! Tell me! Tell me what it means!" He gripped the leather spine and shook the book with more force than he intended.

Flashes of movement caught his eye and mine as well. Dense clouds roiled overhead, and a long procession of shambling humanoids waded through the cold, shoulder-deep ocean water below. Zombies. More specifically, the waterlogged corpses of long-dead sailors left within the reef.

"No!" He shouted causing me to jump slightly. I watched him as he seemed to be struggling with his thoughts and realization dawned on me, Jace was being affected by the insanity spell from before.

"Jace you need to calm down." I say trying to get his thoughts under control but he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he didn't even realize I was here anymore. Dammit, a telepath with insanity was not a good combo, "Sorry Jace, but until you're you again, I can't be near you, but I can still leave a message." I cast a spell to activate when Jace becomes sane again, a message to let him know what happened. I spread my wings and shot into the air to avoid Jace.

I glanced at the strange structure as another another vision came. This time it was surprisingly clear, I was in a room that seemed to be made of storm clouds the Angel from before appeared asleep floating in the air, there was something else but it was covered in clouds preventing me from seeing it clearly. But one thing I could tell was it was massive, had LOTS of eye, and they were all looking at me. I raised my hands and saw my arms covered in a bone like armor.

The world around me disappeared and became a swirling blur before I crash into the ground as if I had been hit back towards the ground. It was strange, I knew that I had just accidentally planes walked but I was still on Innistrad. I stood back up only to see several Angels land around me, each with a weapon pointed at me, I wasn't to concerned but then I saw one Angel that was clearly different then the others.

The angel hovered, her massive wings and long white hair stained with fresh blood, her spear molten and ablaze. Her outfit was all black, making her look even scarier. The look on her face was one of restrained amusement, her eyes seemed to look at every detail about me. "What do you want?" I ask as my demon features appear.

"Damion." Her voice sent a chill to go up my spine, her voice was a tone I never heard before, it made me feel weird. Her eyes were half open as she looked at me...longingly? Why do I feel like I should be anywhere but here right now?

"Um, I'm gonna go now." I spread my wings but the Angel gripped her spear tightly.

"How...do I respond? I don't want...you to leave!" She lunged towards me, she got closer to me faster than I thought and I barley moved out of the way in time as she flew past me.

"What the hell!?" I shout as the Angel turned to look at me again. I was so distracted I didn't notice the white chain wrap around my left wrist until it was to late. I tried to pull myself free but the chain seemed to slowly be draining my energy. I had to dodge the crazy Angel again only she grabbed the chain and wrapped the other end around her wrist. "Let me go!" I shout at her.

"I won't...let you get away from me." She said in that strange tone again, once again I felt like being anywhere else but here.

"Sorry, but I have to be anywhere but here." I channel my magic and create a blade and slice the chain in half causing the Angel to fall back from the lack of force holding her up. As the sword disappears I punch the ground and use my wings to create a small dust cloud to let me escape. I shot into the air and flew in the first direction I faced, I don't know how long I was flying but my vision started to get all fuzzy, I then realized part of the chain was still wrapped around my wrist, "Dammit." My vision darkens and the last thing I see is the ground approaching, this was gonna hurt when I woke up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Hello again, and welcome to my latest chapter of The Next Titan, glad to see people still like to read my story. Like my other stories I'll start to respond to** **reviews. I hope you all like and continue to read. This chapter is gonna wrap up the Shadows Over Innistrad saga set and the next chapter will being the Eldrich Moon saga,** **cannot wait to start.**

 **TheGreatUncleanOne: Thanks, I love the Eldrazi as well, hope you enjoy!**

 **Eldrazi Cat: Glad you like it, hope you enjoy!**

 **Now that reviews are over, let's get on with the story!**

 **Damion pov**

 _"Sorry, but I have to be anywhere but here." I channel my magic and create a blade and slice the chain in half causing the Arc Angel to fall back from the lack of force holding her up. As the sword disappears I punch the ground and use my wings to create a small dust cloud to let me escape. I shot into the air and flew in the first direction I faced, I don't know how long I was flying but my vision started to get all fuzzy, I then realized part of the chain was still wrapped around my wrist, "Dammit." My vision darkens and the last thing I see is the ground approaching, this was gonna hurt when I woke up._

* * *

When I open my eyes I felt like a rock, I could barely move, breathing was a challenge as well. I used what little strength I had to sit up, I nearly pass out from doing that alone, what the hell is causing this? I look at my wrist and see the glowing chain, oh right, I grip the chain and struggle to remove it. Unfortunately I can't get it loose or even get it to budge, it was draining my mana, there was something like this on Korit. A stone that would drain a demons powers, it was extremely rare but was deadly to demons if they were weak enough, it looks like they have some here as well, great. Thankfully being half human came in handy, it's probably the only reason I'm conscious right now.

I pulled myself up and leaned against the side of the large tree I landed next to, my whole body felt like it weighed a ton. "I feel...so tired." I say to myself as I try to get my vision to readjust, how long had I been knocked out anyway? I was so tired I almost didn't hear someone talking right next to me, I turn my head to try and find the source. I could make out the blurry shape of a person kneeling next to me, they appeared to be wearing white and green and judging from their voice they seemed to be female.

"Subject appears to have regained consciousness, however it appears they're severely limited in simple motor functions. It also appears their mana is incredible weak for what seems to be a human/demon hybrid. It is a wonder how such a weak creature lived as long as it did." She seemed to be writing in something as she spoke.

"I'm...not weak...the chain...makes me weak." I say causing her to stop writing. "Please...remove the...chain."

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching towards the chain and manages to remove it, the moment it does I can feel my mana surge through my body. My eyes widen as I feel my demonic features appear on me as mana surged through my body once again. I let out a sigh in relief as I get to my feet and stretch my sore joints, "That's so much better." I say to myself.

"Intriguing." I look back at the woman, who clearly isn't from this Plane judging by her appearance. She seemed to be a moon folk from Kamigawa...not gonna ask how I know that, she finishes writing in her journal before walking up to me. "Can I examine you?"

I'm not sure how to respond to that, but she did help me so I guess I owe her one. "Sure go ahead."

* * *

I don't know how long I've been standing here answering questions or posing my demonic or human features for her to draw in her journal. "So you inherited these powers from which parent?"

"My mother." I reply.

"What was your relationship with her?"

"She didn't want me cause I was half human so she left me in a village to fend for myself, never actually met her."

"Then how do you know she hated you?"

"She left me in a village full of humans who hate demons, I can't imagine a mother who loves her child ever doing that." I say crossing my arms, only for her to make me hold my arm out again to finish her drawing.

"Well, it doesn't seem like she had a choice in the matter." She stated.

"What do you mean?"

"From what you've told me of Korit, the inhabitants despise demons aside from the angels and other demons themselves. That means they would have tried everything in their power to kill her if they had the chance, if she had kept you then you would have been a weakness to her. The only thing she would ever love it seems, what would you do if someone took that from you?"

"Anything, I would do anything to get it back." I said almost immediately, "Huh, I guess she didn't have a choice to hate me, you know you would be a really good therapist you know that?"

"Thank you." She finishes drawing the demonic features on my arm so I extend my wings for her to start her next drawing. "The Demons of Korit are very interesting, but you don't seem to be fully developed yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, you still have some growing to do. That is all." She was silent for a moment before she spoke again, "I have finished my notes on you."

I fold my wings back in and turn to examine the book about me, I looked through it to make sure nothing was wrong or misinterpreted, but everything was perfect. After I confirmed that it was perfect Tamiyo asked me to accompany her to help her finish her notes on Innistrad, she admitted she normally tried to avoid other Planeswalkers but she wanted to know more about me. I agreed since she had helped me already.

I don't know how long we traveled but soon we arrived a Cathedral of some kind, we made our way inside while avoiding soldiers of some kind. I used some of my mental magic to get the soldiers to avoid us or forget we were there. Tamiyo made her through the Cathedral while I went a separate way to get everyone out of the Cathedral for the time being.

After making sure I got everyone I made my way back towards where Tamiyo went, I walk into the room but I stop when I see Jace standing over an elder librarian. His eyes were confused. Furious, terrified, curious, then they settled on something like recognition and relief.

"You! It's you! You brought me here. No, not you, this, this journal. Your journal! You brought me here to meet? No, but how could you?" He trailed off, his eyes drifted toward the ground again, then snapped back to Tamiyo, accusingly. "You were watching me? You knew!" Then they softened again, now sad, pleading. "Help me. Can you? I think...can you help me? _Help me._ " The last words were not a plea at all. My head started to hurt when he said that, dammit Jace, your insanity has gotten worse. A few moments pass before Tamiyo smiled as peacefully as she could manage. Jace was soon covered in a veiling spell as Tamiyo took out a scroll from her satchel. She slipped into the library and closed the door quietly behind her after I walked in with her. A moment later I heard Tamiyo's voice, all I could do was listen as my thoughts became more clear as she spoke.

 **Original**

 **With their creator gone, the creatures known as the myr were lost.**

 **Some continued with their last known instructions, repeating their tasks without direction or purpose, while others simply shut down to await commands that would never come. The loss of Memnarch did not kill them, but with no true consciousness within them, their continued life was scarcely life at all.**

 **Some of the myr had been tasked to monitor the myr population, and create new myr to replace those that had been damaged or destroyed. One of those had been in hibernation for months when its instructions demanded that it act—myr of its kind were too few, and it needed to make another.**

 **However, without its maker to guide it, it did not have clear instructions as to how to proceed. It did what it knew to do—it gathered the proper materials, took those materials to the crafting chamber, a small spherical room, and assembled a myr, completely identical to itself.**

 **This was the point in the process when the Master would gift the new myr with life and a mind, such as it was. But the Master was not there. Still, his instructions persisted. The myr decided to use his own mind as a template, and copied itself into the new myr, creating a being completely identical to itself in every way. Its instructions satisfied, the myr went to leave the chamber...and found itself blocked by its duplicate.**

 **The myr tried to let its duplicate go first—but the duplicate had the same thought at the same time. They waited an identical length of time, and then tried to go again, each colliding into its other self once more. The myr and its duplicate tried everything they could to break this impossible symmetry, but nothing worked. Eventually, in frustration, the two destroyed each other.**

 **A third myr arrived some time later, being tasked with repair, and restored one of the myr—the restored myr stopped the repair myr before it could repair the duplicate and start the whole problem all over again. Instead, it decided to try something different, and copied its mind over again, but this time left it incomplete.**

 **The newly awakened myr was able to create others in the same way, and these new myr, created with minds partially unformed, were able to multiply and modify themselves, act autonomously, and ultimately took the myriad forms that they have today.**

 **The myr celebrate this story as their creation myth, but the reason they celebrate it is curious. There are three theories as to which of the myr in this story was actually the first myr of their kind. Was it the first myr who created another without a specific instruction from their creator? Did the repair myr actually repair the newly created myr first, and thus it was the second myr who made the critical leap that marked the creation of their race? Or was it the first of the myr with an incomplete imprint that was truly the first of their kind? The myr disagree on this point, and they celebrate the disagreement itself—the fact that they can have disagreements on issues of such a fundamental nature, yet still remain in unison, is at the core of what it means to be myr.**

Jace's eyes closed, and he took several deep, slow breaths. When his eyes opened again, they were calm and not wild like a few moments ago. "Thank you. Wow. I...oh. Oh dear. Liliana..." He rubbed his head as if it had been struck, then looked sheepishly up at her. "I'm Jace. And you're Tamiyo, right? Your journal..." He offered it to her with both hands; she raised a thin palm, a gesture of polite refusal. "It led-" His eyes widen as he remembers something, "Damion, where is he!?" He looked around before I run out from behind Tamiyo and up to Jace.

"Here I am! Glad to see you're doing better!" I say happily. Jace responded with a smile before turning bat to Tamiyo.

"It led us here. Your calculations, your studies, the moon, it all made sense...or at least it felt like it did. I was affected and you...you fixed it. Somehow. I'm rambling. Probably sound almost as mad as I did before, I just...thank you."

Tamiyo smiled serenely. "My field notes. I gave them to someone trustworthy, and now you carry them. Did you bring Jenrik to harm, Jace?"

Jace shook his head. "No. But whatever happened to Markov Manor, he didn't survive it."

"I can vouch for that, I was there." Well, in the vicinity at least.

She spent a moment in silence with almost no emotion on her face. "You need to leave, Jace. This place is dangerous, but far more so for one like you. Your telepathic powers carry with them a responsibility. If driven mad, the damage you could do across the planes would be immense, and it would be irresponsible of me to allow that."

"No, I understand, but..." Jace stopped suddenly. It had taken him a few moments to realize that she had just threatened him, I really hope my two new friends don't start fighting each other. He raised his palms, and took a step back. "Tamiyo, I just want to help. We can save this place. Me, Damion, and my friends, we can help you solve what's happening here, and help fix it. My friends and I've done it before...sort of."

Tamiyo raised one white eyebrow and said nothing.

"Listen, you and I both know that Avacyn is at the heart of what's happening here. Well, she has a mind, like any other being, and I can find out what's afflicting her. I can stop her, if it comes to that. And then we can move on to the next step in fixing this."

Tamiyo's smile disappeared.

"You _know_ nothing, Jace. You suspect. You theorize. You have evidence, but it is far from conclusive. How much do you really know about Avacyn? Her purpose? You have no idea what would happen if Avacyn were destroyed. She wards the entire plane—have you ever heard of a planebound being interacting in such a way with the Multiverse? I will tell you this plainly, Jace: you know less than you are ignorant of, and I am not here to fix this world's problem. I am here to understand it. To chronicle it. To know the truth of it, and record that truth for all time. But this plane is likely doomed, and I have no intention of stopping it. It is sad, perhaps, to lose a thing of beauty, but, like the blossoms of an orchard in springtime, it is a temporary beauty. It is just one plane among countless. Planes are lost and renewed all the time. Your premises are flawed."

Jace flinched as if struck. "But the people here—there are millions of them! You'd just leave them to their fate? Madness and worse? We have the power, here, to make a difference. You have that power. Will you help me?"

Tamiyo's expression was unchanged, but her voice held a little more ice. "I _have_ helped you, Jace. I will offer a compromise. I will share my research with you, and you and your friends can use that information to help avert similar disasters on other planes, if it suits you. But I have recorded ten thousand stories about heroes, and a hero is merely a disaster with a point of view."

Jace persisted. "Without conclusive insights from Avacyn herself, your research will be incomplete. Inconclusive. With my help, and Damion's, you will have the story in its entirety. And if I manage to stop Avacyn in the process, it wouldn't harm your work, and it could save countless lives."

I watched as the curiosity made Tamiyo finally give in. "A definitive understanding of Avacyn's current state would certainly be helpful, but I suspect that even if you were capable of entering such an alien mind..."

"I can do it."

Tamiyo didn't seem to like Jace's confidence, or ego. "If you try, her madness will consume you, as it did before. But...in theory, I could anchor you. Tether you to your sanity. But if I decide that we are in too much danger, you will break off the connection immediately, and we will retreat. It will also require that we connect minds on a very fundamental level. I will understand you, and you will understand me. And if I do not like what I come to understand, I will alter the terms of this arrangement again. You, for your part, will come to know precisely what I am capable of. Is this acceptable to you?"

"I accept." He then glanced at me, "What about Damion?"

"I will include him, but Damion however seems to be immune to the insanity, though the reasons are still unknown. Now, let us begin."

"Hang on a second!" I say catching their attention, "Avacyn right? Large white bloodstained wings, large spear, white hair, dressed in all black?"

"Yes, that's exactly...how do you know what she looks like?" Tamiyo asked.

"That psychotic Angel has been sending her lesser Angels after me to bring me to her, said Avacyn wanted me alive. Hell she even came after me herself when I left Jace, nearly caught me to."

"Wait she tried to capture you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"All the Angels kill their victims, why would they want to capture you alive?"

"No idea, but you two should probably do that thing you were gonna do, something tells me we won't have to wait long for her to find us." Tamiyo nodded before she started the spell.

 **No pov**

In an instant, they knew Jace. But it was not a simple thing to know this human. His mind was powerful, but broken. Shattered into a thousand shards, each of them a different man, many of them trying to work together, but some of them...He had erased his own memories. He had destroyed his own truth. He had invaded the minds of the innocent, he had killed in anger, he had used his power for petty and selfish ends. Yet, he was capable of sacrifice, of bravery, and of understanding. He was willing to take on responsibilities. Too many responsibilities, perhaps, for one so young. Younger still, if you accounted for the years of his own life that he so roughly erased. His desire for truth was earnest, and his pledge to help the people of this place was pure. And he was about seventy percent certain he could manage to do what he had told her that he could.

In an instant, they knew Tamiyo, but knowing is not understanding. Jace had always held the soratami of Kamigawa in high esteem, their minds powerful and disciplined. He saw her life, and the contrast with his own was physically painful. Where he was untethered, she was safely anchored by family, tradition, and home. Home, an endless library, high in the clouds; the place she loved more than any other. The smiles and sweet familiarity of her family. Children. They could not fully understand the places she went when she left them, but their faces lit up so brightly when she brought them stories, impossible stories, told in the voice of truth from places they could never see. He saw her burden. The terrible burden of _knowing_ , and the need to protect truths too dangerous to be spoken aloud, yet too important to be forgotten. Three iron-bound scrolls, each with a power...

In an instant they knew Damion, all the pain and torment he lived with in his home. They saw his will to survive and compassion for others, his strength to fight for what he believes in. Parts of his mind was locked away, removed from his mind as if it never existed. The strongest memory was Eldrazi invading his town, the only place he knew as home, before waking up on Innistrad. His trust in the two of them was stronger than they had expected. But there was something else there, a dark mass seemed to be trying to form but kept disappearing as it was trying to form, they could feel its power as if it was really there.

* * *

 **Damion pov**

The world returns to normal before Tamiyo speaks, "Jace, Damion, my veiling spell has been pierced. And there is a powerful presence moving this way." Jace nodded, I follow the other two Planeswalkers as we hurried down the hallway into the cathedral's central chapel. "I will attempt to communicate with Avacyn. Distract her. _Emphatically_ distract her if I must. You will not have long to stop her before she kills the three of us."

Before Jace or I could respond the world became a symphony of howling winds and shattering glass.

My wings shoot out and cover the three of us as glass bounces off my wings, I lower my wings and look up as the angel hovered, her massive wings stained with fresh blood, her spear molten and ablaze. The look on her face was one of restrained amusement. Avacyn had arrived, and the feeling of being anywhere else returned, but I had to ignore it for the time being.

Tamiyo floated up to meet her gaze. "Avacyn. I am a visitor to your world, and I have been as respectful a guest as I have been able. I want nothing but peace and wellness for those you protect. As an angel, you can hear the truth of my words. How do you respond?"

The angel's face twitched into a horrid version of any smile I had ever known, and a clicking sort of laughter emanated from her, lips unmoving. Her voice sent a shiver up my spine and felt cold.

"How...do I respond? I am...to protect. From you. Intruder. Invader. Rotmonger. Impure! IMPURE!"

"I see," replied Tamiyo, a waiting scroll unfurling. "That is unfortunate." She glanced at the scroll before she started to sing...for some reason.

 **Winter's Howl**

A young man took a step through mountain door,

A short trip to tend to his fence and farm,

The winter's chill and ice beneath the snow,

Did bring him to both swift and final harm.

His wife, a beauty who loved him so dear,

Went through her day not knowing awful truth,

That just a hundred yards from mountain door,

Her love's own blood did freeze despite his youth.

When widow did suspect that she might be,

She called with terror's breath from mountain door,

The truest cold had risen from the sea.

Only his howl of anguish echoed more.

Avacyn lunged forward with a massive beat of her wings, and Tamiyo slipped through the air, barely clearing the reach of the angel's burning spear. As Avacyn wheeled around in the eaves of the cathedral, Tamiyo let loose precisely targeted blasts of icy gale; a patch of feathers froze and shattered, white and red, falling like snow to the stone floors below. I sent a few blasts of purple and grey mana at the angel but if it was hurting her she didn't show any signs of it.

The angel dove through the air, faster this time, her spear swinging in a wide arc. Tamiyo glided forward, baiting the attack, then tumbled in the opposite direction, more freezing blasts pushing her clear of the spear's tip. She targeted the angel's right wrist, then the joint of the left wing. As she passed behind, again, the spot where the wing met the shoulder. Avacyn was faster, and a single strike of her spear would likely mean Tamiyo's end, but the angel fought enraged, and the soratami moved with deftly calculated precision—Avacyn's face showed no pain, no frustration, but her maneuverability began to suffer. She slowed, and as she did so, the cathedral shook with that impossible laughter, the chattering of dry bones and the clawing of a thousand rats.

Tamiyo sent an urgent thought to Jace and I, Jace hidden down below.

 _"She's adapting. We don't have long."_ Tamiyo stated.

Avacyn raised her spear as a blinding light shone from her, illuminating every corner of the cathedral, and I'm being pushed back from its power as my skin started to burn, holy light. The light burned on, pressing on the me and the other two Planeswalkers like a physical force, driving Tamiyo back to the ground, driving Jace to his knees, and me into a wall. The angel slowly descended, spear lowered at Tamiyo's chest, all her previous rage seemingly vanished—she was the picture of deadly grace.

 _"Almost there..."_

And then she froze. The light persisted, but her motion stopped—she stood just feet from Tamiyo's motionless form, spear extended...and there she stayed. No breath, no fluttering of feathers, complete stillness. But the immobilizing light kept pressing down on us.

"It's done, Tamiyo. She's, well, not sleeping exactly, but it's the closest thing I could manage." Jace stated.

"Jace, perhaps it's slipped your attention..."

"Working on that. But listen. She's the source of the madness among the angels. They synchronize with her somehow. And through her, the church. But...she's not the origin. She's being affected by something else, and—you were right! She's still holding something else at bay. I can't see it, but I think if I push a little deeper..."

"Jace, that's enough."

"Jace is there a way to turn off this light? This hurts me more than you two."

"Wait. No. That's..."

The air filled with the smell of rotting meat. Avacyn's light did not dim, but the sense of glory vanished from it; the light was cold, sickening, oily, and cruel. The angel turned towards Jace, Tamiyo seemingly forgotten, and she walked with purpose over to his crumpled form. "Defiler," she whispered, her voice the sound of skin crackling away to ash in the flame. "Thief. Pustule of corruption." She reached down and placed her hand on his chest. Anything else she might have whispered to him was drowned out by his screams.

Tamiyo tried to offer him solace, any relief from the pain before the end came.

 _"Tamiyo. The scroll. The iron scroll. You showed it to me. An old story. A powerful story. The survivors of a place that was lost...Serra's realm. That cataclysm, that power...the story fits. You know it does. You can stop this."_ Jace pleaded, I couldn't just sit here and do nothing.

She did not hesitate in the slightest in her reply. " _And then? She is still defending this world, Jace, despite her madness. Did you ever make a promise, Jace? I made one, long ago. And promises aren't just to be kept when the keeping of them is easy. We make promises for times like this, when we desperately want to break them. No, Jace. The scroll stays closed."_ I could feel Jace's disbelief and anger. _"I'm sorry, Jace. Sometimes, our stories have to end."_

Avacyn aimed her spear at Jace's chest "Avacyn, this isn't you," he coughs as he held his head. "You don't have to do this." He is struggling to speak.

"You're ill, or misinformed," Tamiyo said getting the angels attention, I'm still stuck in the wall, "You're meant to protect people, not—this." Avacyn pushed toward her with her hand, and her light blasts the Moonfolk back. Tamiyo slams against the wall, coughing.

"I am the bulwark against fiends from without," Says the Arc Angel as she aims her spear at Tamiyo, "I destroy wickedness, no matter its origin, no matter its form. I have seen you crawl across my provinces, slither into my church. But now I _see_ you. And now you answer to me." The light around her intensifies as she raised her hand, "Finally," She says, "your corruption of Innistrad ends."

I tried once again to free myself from the wall but I still couldn't get free, but before I knew what was happening the skylight explode, a man crashing through it feet first. Tinted shards rain down into the cathedral. The glass bounces off my skin as well as Avacyns, Jace and Tamiyo had to cover their heads from the glass.

The man crashes onto his feet, sword in hand. He stands straight, his boots grinding glass. He is unhurt, his white hair barely ruffled. Something about him seemed familiar for some reason, as if I've met him before. "Sorin Markov." I had no idea how I knew his name but I did. He glanced at me and I swear his eyes widen slightly before he looks back at the Arc Angel.

"Stand aside, vampire," Avacyn says, "I will deal with you next."

Sorin didn't move an inch, his weapons are already drawn: a longsword readied in one hand, a spell in the other. "There's something wrong with you, Avacyn," the vampire says, "I've come to help."

"Do not attempt to stay my spear, bloodsucker, or you will feel it yourself."

"Avacyn," he says. "I need you to come with me down to the cellar. You'll see what I must do, if you'll just wait for a moment—"

"My mission never waits," She answered. The Arc Angel shot her holy magic at him, and it hits him dead in the chest but to my surprise he is unaffected

"Avacyn," he says. "The cellar. We have business we must attend to."

"Sorin," Says Tamiyo, her eyes directed to the vampire. "You can help her, can't you?"

"Silence," he snaps, and the three of us jolt with the force of his voice. He turns to the Arc Angel again. "Listen to me. If you have some grievance with these three, you may kill them before we begin." Jace and Tamiyo look at each other in concern while Avacyn glances at me an smiles, oh no. "But I won't permit you to leave this place until our business is concluded."

"I warn you, vampire," She replies. "These invaders are the foulest threat on Innistrad, but Damion is mine, and you are in danger of becoming the greater evil in my sight. Begone, or I and my host will strike you down." I don't know if I should be concerned or not that the insane angel thinks I'm hers.

He steps toward her before she pummels him with hallowed light, but again the spell does not harm him. He tilts his head. His eyes look almost concerned, but, soon she raised her spear-tip to the vampire.

The vampire takes another step, so that his chest rests against the spearhead. "Avacyn, you cannot harm me." He reaches out to her. "And there is a reason. I am your creator." he says.

Avacyn looked shocked, she was silent for a few moments before she seemed to see Sorin in a new light. "You are my creator," She says.

"Yes."

"Then you must be good." She adds. The Vampires smile is gentle, showing just the slightest edge of fang. "You are the source," she says. "Of me. And therefore. Of goodness."

"That's right, Avacyn. And so that you can be the best you can be, you must join me. Come." He reaches his hand out to her, but something makes her hesitate to take it.

Avacyn looks over at Tamiyo and Jace before looking at me as I manage to fall out of the wall and land on my chest. She was still looking at me with a strange look, she seemed to be thinking before looking back at her creator with her eyes narrowed.

"You," she says. Moonlight gathers on her body causing her skin to glow.

"Avacyn," Markov says, his voice low, a predator's tone.

"Scion of Markov," She announces, raising her spear. Its blades curve and warp to jab at his chest. "You have allowed this to happen."

"You should be careful what you say to me, child," Markov says.

"I am not your child," She says, "I am your creation. You are responsible for everything I am capable of. I was made for a purpose, and your purpose was impure. Sorin Markov, I condemn you as the greatest evil of this world."

"You've fallen out of line," Markov says through his teeth.

"Wait, Sorin—" warns Tamiyo. "Don't. The consequences for the plane—"

"Why would you allow this?" She asked. "Why would you make me this way?" She presses the spear against his chest, scratching the armor.

Markov sneers. The blade in his hand flashes in the light from the rafters. "Avacyn, come down to the cellar," he says. "Let us discuss your creation."

"You created me to ensure that all wickedness meets its demise," She says. "Prepare to meet yours." Avacyn lunges with her spear, using every bit of her strength. Somehow, the blade misses his chest, and she fell past him. He lashes her with draining magic, but she turned in time to deflect it away. She claws at him, channeling light into the blow. It connects, but only rakes sparks across his armor. He swings back at her, batting the Arc Angel with the flat of his blade.

She raises her spear in both hands, the deadly end pointing to the heavens. She channels her mana into the weapon, and it thrums with divine power. "You were made to be loyal to me," Markov says. "You can't harm me."

"It seems not," She states with a grin. "But they can."

He looks up to see an army of Angels decent towards him, without thinking I lunged forward towards the angels and kneed four of them into a wall away from Sorin. He looked at me with narrowed eyes but I look at him with a neutral expression, I turn to look back towards the angels before I use my own magic to make everyone but the two of us freeze in place, it would only be for a minute but that's all I needed. Then I look back at the vampire, "Look you clearly don't like me and I get that a lot, but I won't allow my friends to die because you don't give a shit about them. I won't stop you from doing what it is you want, hell if your gonna make her sane that'd be great. But I if my friends get put in danger." The black swords appear in my hand again only they didn't shatter after a few seconds like before, "Avacyn won't be the only one with blood on her hands tonight." I glare at the Vampire Planeswalker and you could feel the tension in the room.

 **No pov**

Sorin didn't like the idea of the half Demon Planeswalker in front of him threatening him. Under normal circumstances he would have killed the boy and gone back to what he was doing, but the boy had managed to freeze everyone else in the room, and Avacyn seemed to like the boy for some reason. He glanced at the Arc Angel he had created over a 1,000 years ago, the closest things he's ever had to a daughter. He wanted to avoid killing her at all cost, and perhaps the child in front of him could be useful, "Very well, I will not intentionally bring harm to your friends, but you are to do exactly what I say when I say. Are we clear." It wasn't a request, it was a statement.

Damion nodded and turned to face the Arc Angel as the other occupants of the room unfroze, the Angels swarmed towards the Demon and Vampire Planeswalkers.

Sorins attacks were terrifying, he impales one angel with his sword and slices through the wing of another. He throws one angel to the floor, cracking the marble, and another through a column, turning the masonry to powder. He holds another by the neck as she attacks him with furious claws, buffeting at his face and the angel was drained of its life and went limp before it disintegrated.

Damion was a bit more restrained than the Vampire, his attacks only crippled the angels or knocked them out, but didn't kill any of them. Damion blocked several Angel blades before he spun knocking them back and slashing several tendons, a few moments later Damion raised his hands towards the Angels. "It worked before, so why not again?" He channeled his mana towards the downed Angels who lit up with a grey light as their wounds healed and they all smiled before they turning into orbs of grey light and disappeared into Damions chest. Damion looked at his hands, "Still don't know what that is, but glad it works."

Both turn to face Avacyn, Sorins leather is torn and his chest plate raked open, Damions shirt had been sliced in several places as well but no cuts on his skin. The Angels have weakened them, but they are far from defeated. Sorin taps the tip of his sword on the marble. "This changes nothing, Avacyn," he says.

The last three Angels fly down and circle Sorin. They attack him in concert with sword and claw that were blurs to normal people. They close in on him, shrieking, slicing from all sides. One by one he destroys the angels. He charges into one, slamming her through row after row of stone pillars. As the next swoops at him, he throws his sword overhand, catching the blade in her chest and impaling her. She falls in a heap. He grabs the final attacker by the shoulder, looks her in the eye, and throws her through the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window. The wall shatters into a thousand shards.

Markov turns back to Avacyn, a snarl revealing one of his fangs. Avacyn holds her spear tip against his throat but doesn't seem to be able to cut him. "Avacyn—" he begins but suddenly the spear goes through his neck, cutting deep enough to hit bone.

He roars and leaps back, grasping his neck as blood leaked from the wound. He leaps at her, sword aimed at her heart, and the blade sparks along the holly spear as Avacyn parried. She pivoted to strike him, but she had to duck his claw, and the blow severs tendons in her lunged to push her holly light through him, but it is met with a blast of blood magic that scatters her spell. The Angel shrieks and dives into him, breaking a column with his body, crashing him through glass and splintered wood until he is shoved against the wall of the cathedral.

Sorins head tilts and the sound of bone cracking against bone made Avacyn smile. His neck wound has begun to scar over however. "Avacyn. I must do this."

"And I, this," She replies, before she stabs her spear through the gap in the Vampires's chest plate, so deep that the blade hits the granite of the cathedral wall on the other side. Before she could do any more Damion grabbed her arm and launched her across the Cathedral before she skidded to a halt. She smiled at the boy, "I'm so happy...you want to play with me...but...you need to get away from that monster!"

"Not gonna happen." His swords disappeared before they were replaced by two spears with sword blades at the ends, they were still black and looked like they were turning to ash, but they didn't disappear instantly like usual.

Markov clutches the spear handle and yanks out the blade, his heart could be seen through the wound, he drops the spear and his own sword, and they clatter alongside one another. He clutches his wound closed with one claw.

"You are lost," he mouths. "You can only see me as a monster now, and that is why you can harm me."

"You are a stain on the world," She says. "It is only now that I am able to see that clearly."

In the blink of an eye Sorin was in front of her before grapple, clamping their hands into each other's shoulders. They slam each other through pillars, lift each other up into the rafters, fragmenting the beams, and their struggle is clouded with plaster dust and feathers. She scrapes at his face, and the wounds do not heal immediately. Her fingers find flesh and shred it, and acrid smoke seeps from the wounds as great chunks of Thraben Cathedral fall to the floor far below them.

He grimaces and suddenly locks his claws onto her upper arms, pinning her as she thrash her wings to keep them floating. Sorin was clearly stronger as he was bending her arms behind her back, dislocating a shoulder. He was holding back before. This is his true strength.

He bites her neck, and to Avacyn the pain is like a thousand innocents screaming, a thousand pleas for aid, a thousand prayers she will never answer. She feels her blood pumping at her throat, drawn by suction.

When the two fall, it is not from gravity, not from a weakness in Avacyns wings. They fall because he drives them down, his strength slamming them from the height of the Cathedral down to its floor. Through its floor, Damion jumps down the hole after them.

When the two slam to a halt, they lie in the cellar of Thraben Cathedral, a ragged hole of marble above them. Damion not to far away from the two of them, Markov's sword balances on the edge of the hole, then falls beside them, sticking point-down in the stone.

Avacyn touched the cold stone floor, pawing for her spear, but it's missing. It was still upstairs. Instead she touched a dark shape, a burn scar on the floor, the remains of some mighty spell. It is shaped like wings. Angel's wings. Above them Jace and Tamiyo were shouting warnings towards Sorin and Damion. Their pleading echoes through the halls.

"You should know this place," Markov says, getting up off her, wiping his fang-filled mouth. "This is the place where you were made."

Avacyn rose. The wound on her neck bleeds, but she let it bleed. The room seemed like it was healing her "Where you made me what I am." She says.

"Let me help you, my child," Sorin says. "I could...cleanse your mind. Make you a proper instrument of virtue again. I'll make you anew."

"If I am not the daughter you want..." she says. He winces. "...then we must battle again, and again, forever. For I will never yield. I am no monster's instrument. I will not be altered by the likes of you."

"No," Markov says. "This ends. Now." He looks over at Damion, "Bind her." Damion nods before he holds out his hands, his eyes lit up grey as Avacyn struggled to stay standing, her limbs soon became bound in chains. She struggled against the chains as Damion struggled to keep her down.

"I know what you will do, so go on. Create another vault of silver. Imprison me. That is the only way you will stop me from doing everything in my power to destroy you."

"The prison is gone," he says. "I cannot create another Helvault, just as I cannot create another you."

Avacyns seemed to be gathering strength as the chains started to crack and even snap in some places. "You are my creator. You must know the way of this world. What cannot be destroyed must be bound."

Markov unsheathes his sword from the stone floor. His words are quiet. "But Avacyn...you can be destroyed." Damion knew he was about to do something big so he put as much mana as he could into the chains.

 **Avacyn pov**

I cannot see his face now, because he turns away from me. I cannot see whether he is monster or man. I can only see the point of that sword. I can only hear ancient words, words of a ritual performed in reverse, words of a gift being revoked. I can only feel my knees dropping onto the unyielding limit of the Cathedral floor. I can only smell the ash of some nearby smoldering. I can only touch the shadow on the floor under me, the shape that marks my first moment. The chains binding me made me feel close to the one I wanted, they were so warm and comforting, why did I want him again? I supposed it doesn't matter anymore.

I can only say to you, in this, my final prayer to the world, that I only ever meant to keep the innocent from harm.

"I am Avacyn. I am to protect."

 **No pov**

Damion fell to his knees and gasped for breath the chains shot towards him before they disappeared in a grey light. "That took more out of me than I thought it would." He states.

"What—have you _done?_ " Jace demanded.

Fumes rose from the burnt place on the floor, drifting up through shafts of light from one of the cathedral's skylights. Avacyn was no more. The cathedral felt vacant, as if something important was missing. Jace glanced back and forth between the space that had been Avacyn and Sorin's face. The vampire was trembling slightly, fists clenched around his sword, as if trying to hold an earthquake in his chest. "I had to." Sorin whispered.

Jace made incredulous gestures with his hands, unable to figure out which of the eleven things wrong with that statement to insist on first. In the end, he turned to Tamiyo. " _Did_ he have to?"

Tamiyo only frowned. She hiked her robes and squatted on the floor, reaching out with gloved fingertips to sample the ash remains. She rose, rubbing the ash between her fingers. She rested her hand on a small telescope on her belt, like a warrior touching a reassuring weapon, her eyes fixed on Jace. "This will have...consequences," she said.

Jace nodded. "The people of this world have lost a protector."

"Jace." Damion said catching everyones attention, he sounded terrified, "Something is coming, something big." An extended, guttural bass rumble rolled across the sky, profound and booming. The sound thudded in Jace's chest and shook dust from the ceiling. Damion felt a burning in his mind and chest, like something was trying to rip free.

Tamiyo looked grave. "The _plane_ has lost its protector," she said.

The world rumbled again, this time under their feet. The ground shuddered, the tremor intensifying from moment to moment. Flagstones jittered in their ancient mortar. Shards of stained glass shook and fell, tumbling from leaden frames that depicted Avacyn's face, and the shattering sound echoed through the vacant halls.

The tremor subsided. The echoes fell silent.

Jace watched Sorin shove his sword into his scabbard and turn away, his collar pulled up around his jaw, his shoulders hunched. The vampire glided up a staircase, his fingernails raking pits in the marble bannister.

The stairs were sunken and pitted in their centers, Jace noticed. Attrition from centuries of footfalls. Centuries of worshipers. Centuries of seekers of Avacyn.

"What have you done?" Jace called after him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Damion pov**

 **"Damion!"** I grab my head in pain as the voice pierces my mind causing unimaginable pain, **"Damion!"**

"Get out of my head!" I shout as I push my forehead against the floor of the Cathedral.

 **"Return to me!"**

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" My mind felt like it was about to shatter, it hurt to think, it hurt to move, it hurt to exist! I take in a deep breath before the pain disappears and fall to my side gasping for breath, I can see Tamiyo and Jace looking down at me in concern, both of their magics was covering me and protecting my mind from the voice. "I don't...want to go to her...don't make me." I say between gasps before I feel my mind clear, Tamiyo was reading that story from before that helped Jace. Once my mind clears I sit up, "Thanks."

"What happened?" Jace asked.

"A voice, it knew who I was and told me to return to her, I've heard this voice before when we were at Lilianas place, I thought I just imagined it." I was silent for a few moments, "I know the voice, but I can't remember who it is." A jolt of pain shoots through my head again but if fades, my mind once again clearing. I use my own magic to block out the voice and the pain before I stood up, the mental link was back. A moment later the three of us can sense a pressure on our minds, to the others it was a foreign feeling but I knew first hand, this was the pressure I felt when my home was attacked, only I felt no hatred towards it, it felt comforting. I shook my head as I get the thought out of my mind. This belonged to only one creature I've ever met before, the Titan from Korit, Emrakul.

Immediately after I think the name my mind is flooded with images before they disappear, worlds I had never seen before flashed in my mind, they were beautiful. "My memories, their back!" I say excitedly but I couldn't access them for some reason, like they were still blocked, I knew they were there but I couldn't access them.

"Really? What do you remember?" Jace asked.

"I can't access them, but I know they're there. Can you unlock them?" I look at Jace and Tamiyo pleadingly till Jace lets out a sigh and agrees, Tamiyo agreeing as well to learn more about me. The world around me fades as my memories flood my mind.

 **No pov**

The Planeswalkers watch the young half Demon, a few minutes later the two of them started to get concerned. Not a second later tears poured down Damions face, he looked at Jace with regret, "I'm sorry." Before Jace could ask what he meant his eyes widen as Damions body was covered in bone like armor, his face covered in a bone mask, tentacles appeared out of his upper arms, his hands became three large claws as his Elrazi form was revealed to them.

Tamiyo was surprised while Jace was awe struck, he recognized Damion as the Eldrazi from Zendikar, the one that had allowed Ulamog to speak to them.

"I am Damion, Envoy of the end, Herald of the three Titan Eldrazi." His Eldrazi form fades as returns to his human form, his gaze was locked on the ground, as tears poured from them. Jace took the opportunity to listen in on Damions thoughts. Damion was more concerned he had shattered any chance of keeping the friendship they had formed since they first met, but he hadn't changed much. He had his memories yes, but to him it was like watching a completely different person to him, he had accepted who and what he was. As well as what he has done, he showed remorse for what he had done but he knew there was no undoing what had happened, Damion didn't know what he should do.

The silence was endless for Damion even though it had only been a minute before Jace let out a sigh, "Nissa won't be happy about this."

"What?" Damion asked surprised.

"She's not gonna be too happy an Eldrazi is joined the Gatewatch." Jace said with a smirk as he watched Damion realize Jace had accepted him as what he was, once again. "Now come on, we need to get going." Damion nodded as he followed Jace and Tamiyo up the stairs. Happy his friends still accepted him.

* * *

 _We are Emrakul. All are Emrak—_ "Gah! No." Jace pushed the swirling words from his mind with a stern swipe. "And stay out."

Tamiyo and Damion had taught him how to combat Emrakul's maddening touch, but maintaining the mental bulwark was more challenging than the Moonfolk and Half-Demon made it seem. That was a problem. A big problem for his plan. Every time he focused for too long on something other than the Eldrazi, Her tainted voice would creep back into his head, corrupting his defenses and burrowing into the deepest recesses of his mind.

This time it had been the sight of the warped angel in the sky overhead that had distracted Jace. He had done well at keeping his eyes on Tamiyo's back, keeping his focus on their trek across the rocks; he was following her toward what she called the nexus point. But the presence of the angel had been too much to ignore. So impossibly alien was its shape that Jace's curiosity had gotten the better of him. He'd glanced up and been drawn in instantly, having to work to parse what he was witnessing. At first he'd thought it a demon, but it was far worse than that. By the time he had resolved the multiple wings, the lattice-like connective tissue between the dual heads, the melding echoing voice, he had lost himself.

"My mother has begun attacking the Plane." Damion states looking up at the former Angels that had melded into one being. Damions statement only made Jace think harder on the Titans presence.

That was unacceptable. He needed to be able to trust his mind for what he was about to do. Was he really about to do it? Could he actually justify bringing the rest of them here, to be set upon by this madness? The question dropped to the pit of his stomach and swelled up into a wave of nausea. He had thought it was the right thing. Hadn't he? Yes, he had come to it as the only solution. He was certain—almost certain. Close to certain. "Gah!" Jace threw up his arms.

"Shh!" Tamiyo shot a scolding glance over her shoulder.

"Sorry." Jace held up his hands defensively.

Tamiyo glowered but turned back to the path, to her magical lantern and her soft footfalls. He should tell her. Tell her to wait here and he would bring help. This was bigger than something the three of them could handle alone. In truth, it always had been, even when Jace thought it was just the mad angel, Avacyn. If it hadn't been for Sorin back at the cathedral— _Sorin_. Jace cursed the ancient vampire who had brought Innistrad to the brink of destruction and then just merely drifted away, leaving the mess for Jace to clean up.

But an Eldrazi titan wasn't something he could clean up alone. It was never meant to be something he had to do alone, or with the help of Her son apparently, Jace was still coming to terms with Damions status to the Eldrazi. Gideon himself had told Jace to come back to Zendikar if he heard news of the titan. Well, Jace had done better than that, he had found Her and her son. Gideon should be quite pleased.

Ahead, Tamiyo paused at the shore and held her lantern aloft. Jace followed the tendrils of magically enhanced light, lifting his eyes to the sky. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't.

It was the first time he had actually seen Her: the titan, Emrakul.

Jace was transfixed.

Emrakul was bigger, he could swear, than either of the others. And, in her way, far, far more powerful. She had only been on this world for a short time, and already so much of it seemed to belong to her. All of Innistrad had uprooted itself to follow her. Cultists, warped into her likeness, dragged themselves over the rocks, abandoning all that they had been in their former lives. Animals and monsters alike, on the land, in the sky, and in the sea flocked behind her as she went. The trees, mosses, and brambles, even the algae trailed itself from the water to be closer to her warping presence.

Jace, too, felt the urge to go to Her. _I'amrakul._

 _No._

He wanted to shake himself. He had to clear his mind. He had to think. He couldn't let Her have what She wanted. He once again mimicked what Tamiyo and Damion had taught him, clenching his hands into fists with the effort. The process of ensuring that there was no residue of delirium was not unlike clearing away cobwebs from inside one's head. Thick, poisonous-like cobwebs exuded by a towering Eldrazi monstrosity hell-bent on consuming the mind of every living thing on this world. Jace shuddered.

This is what he would have to be able to do for them, for Gideon and Chandra and Nissa. He'd have to protect their minds along with his own. He couldn't bring them here and then leave them to be consumed by Her. He wouldn't. So then the question was: Could he do it? He had asked himself this very thing what felt like a hundred times, and yet he didn't have the answer.

"You say they call Her Emrakul?" Tamiyo's curious voice drew Jace out of his thoughts. He glanced at her; her face was a study in serenity, as though holding her mind against the madness was no more difficult than breathing.

"Yes," Jace said. "That's one of the things they call Her."

"It's the most common name she goes by, most other versions are alternate versions of Emrakul. She does reply to mom though." Damion says with a smirk.

"Fascinating that such a thing should have a name." Tamiyo lifted her telescope from her belt and placed it to her eye. "I wonder if that is what She calls Herself."

Jace had never paused to ask that question. He would have never thought it something worth asking; the moonfolk saw things much differently than he did. He stared ahead at Emrakul's massive form, trying to see Her the way Tamiyo did. He looked into Her enormous magenta eye. It was warm and welcoming. He wondered what he would find if he went inside. He held himself back, just on the precipice. _"What is your name?"_ he asked _"What do you call yourself_? _"_

A deluge of words echoed from all corners of his mind:

 ** _"The enteral infinity—this world is mine._**

 ** _The absolute—I shall have all._**

 ** _The beginning—I shall be all._**

 ** _The being—all are'mrakul._**

 ** _The end._**

 ** _The end._**

 ** _The end."_**

Jace pulled back, gasping for breath. This was not the end. This would not be the end. Not for him, and not for Innistrad. He had to stop doubting, stop procrastinating; he had to trust his mind. He glanced again at the serene Tamiyo; if she could do it, he could do it, he could do it for them. _Yes._ It was time to bring the Gatewatch to Innistrad. He cleared his throat. "Tamiyo, I have to go."

"What?" Tamiyo turned, her lavender eyes wide.

"There are three others. Planeswalkers. They're powerful, they're the best there are, and they can help. I have to go get them. On another world, we killed two more like that." He nodded at Emrakul without actually looking at Her.

Tamiyo appeared reluctant to believe him. "Two?"

"It took all of us, but yes."

Tamiyo cocked her head and squinted into his eyes. Jace had the urge to look away—he felt guilty under her scrutiny, though he wasn't sure why. And then suddenly she smiled. "You did. Yes, you really and truly did. My, now that's a story I'll have to hear." She sighed. "But another time. If this world's story hopes for an ending other than darkness, we must each do our part."

"Will you two come with me?"

"No, Jace. That's not my path." Tamiyo stated.

"I'll go but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to like me." Damion added.

"Don't worry, just let me do all the talking." He looks back at Tamiyo, "Will you be here when we come back?"

"We will all be where we must be." Tamiyo replied.

Jace turned to Tamiyo and opened his mouth to argue that she should stay and help, but then he felt a calming touch on his mind and Damions. Tamiyo. Jace no longer had to fight to hold onto his sanity; he hadn't even realized that he had been straining so hard. It was like a terrible headache had finally broken. Relief. He relaxed into it.

"I will protect your minds so you can planeswalk," Tamiyo said. "Go."

In that moment, there was nothing Jace wanted more than to do as she said. He wanted to go, to leave this world, leave the titan. Return to the world they had already saved: Zendikar. Damion was focusing on Zendikar as well, in an instant they vanished.

* * *

Jace and Damion appeared on Zendikar and was immediately spotted by a certain flame wielding Planeswalker.

"Well, look who decided to show up. Hey, Gideon, over here!" Chandra called out.

"About time!" The tromping of boots materialized in Jace's ears, and the afterimage of Emrakul looming above gave way to the smiling face of his friend. Then Gideon took notice of the young boy with Jace. "Who's your friend?" Gideon knew he was a Planeswalker but was surprised by the boys age.

"Well, you see..." Jace said before he started to explain what had happened.

 **One explanation later**

The Members of the Gate Watch were all looking at Damion in shock as the boy was examining flowers with wonder in his eyes, as if he's never seen them before.

Jace was worried how his friends would react to the revelations about Damion.

Nissa looked like she was on the verge of screaming, but was holding it in since Jace had explained what happened to Damion. She was furious with the Eldrazi especially for what they did to Zedikar, the only reason she even considered it was because he could possibly help stop Emrakul.

Chandra looked like she couldn't believe this little kid was that powerful, she was also considering fighting him for fun. She sympathized with him a bit for being seen different than others like her growing up.

Gideon had an emotionless expression on his face, when he looked at the boy he didn't see an Eldrazi bent on destroying everything in its path, instead he saw someone who wanted to help. He walked towards the half Demon still not showing any emotions. Jace informed Damion that Gideon was walking towards him making the half Demon look back at the man approaching him, Damion stood up and looked up at the man. Gideon looked down at the boy, "What do you want?"

"What?"

"Why did you accept joining? What's your reason?"

"Well, Jace accepted me for who I was, both times, and I wanted to help. I told Jace I would help and I intend to keep my promise." He said with no hesitation and Gideon could tell he meant every word.

"If you're joining you need to say an oath, if you don't then you can't join." He said with a small smile.

Damion smiled, "How do I do it?"

"Raise your hand like this and say what you believe is right, and then say you will keep watch."

Damion was silent for a few moments as the others watch him, he raised his hand and spoke. "If I can help my friends, keep the Multiverse safe, and be with those who accept me for who I am, I will keep watch." A grey and purple flame appeared around his hand as a small swirl of wind pushed the dirt away from him as his clothes moved in an invisible wind. He looked at the others, Gideon smiled and held out his hand.

"Welcome to the Gatewatch." Damion smiled and shook his hand in response, "Now, let us go stop Emrakul."

* * *

A crack appeared out of thin air before Damion walked out and opened his eyes as he appeared on Innistrad, the familiar sense of his mother calmed his mind but he had to resist opening it to her. The sound of boots landing on the ground caught his attention, looked over at where Jace landed.

Jace shuddered involuntarily as he opened his eyes on Innistrad. The air was quite a bit colder here. It had a different smell, too, a different feel. The scent was strange, almost metallic, and when he exhaled his last breath of Zendikar's air and breathed in Innistrad, he felt it. There was a thickness to the air here. That first breath hurt, just a little.

The sky was tearing itself apart. Storm clouds swirled, as if there was a gale in every direction, and no sunlight escaped the horizon. The plane's eternal dusk had given way to a purplish glow. His eyes didn't want to adjust to the dark; they fought him every moment of the way. He squinted toward the horizon, toward the hole in reality, and tried to focus. Focus. Focus. His mind felt heavy, here. Like a sack of wet rice on top of his neck. Sloshing, grinding, sliding away...

There was a chime in Jaces mind. Or the memory of a chime. A reminder of himself, and his eyes cleared.

They stood atop a hill, looking down on the rolling fields that surrounded Thraben. They could see the city now, and half of it was on fire. There were battles raging in the streets. Torches. Shouting. Screaming. Jace wasn't sure whether he was hearing the screams from this distance, or feeling them. And above it all, up in the sky...he couldn't bring himself to focus there. Not yet.

A second set of sounds brought Jace's focus to a more clear and present issue. Growling. Snarling. Eyes glowing a sickly green in the dark.

"Werewolves again," Jace muttered. He reached out into the darkness and lightly touched the minds that he found there. Six of them, ravaged by madness and changed into something he could barely recognize. As they crept out of the shadows, he saw the werewolves clearly. Their fur was patchy, their skin infused with the same latticework pattern that he had seen all over the organic matter of Innistrad.

Damion narrowed his eyes as the purple and grey fire appeared around his hands, he charged towards three of them and summoned a sword only this time it didn't turn black and start disappearing. In his hand was what appeared to be an Eldrazi in the shape of a sword, the handle itself was a purple color while the blade was made of the bone fragments with more fragments floating near the edge of the blade. Several tentacles attached to the handle reached over and wrapped around his wrist. The sword cut through the werewolves like nothing, he summoned a second one before killing the second werewolf. The third one however seemed to hesitate attacking Damion before it was covered in a grey fire, turning it to ash.

Jace made a call. There wasn't enough left of the minds of the three remaining werewolves to be saved. There was no subtlety in his mental assault; he grabbed ahold of their senses and overloaded each one—blinding light, deafening sound, smells so intense they choked on them. It wasn't pretty, but he needed to establish a foothold here for when the others arrived.

Two of the werewolves whimpered and fell; they twitched, and then went still. The last of the three...laughed? He could feel its mind changing, adapting, growing in response to the assault. The mental connection broke, and he watched as the creature's skin rippled, its limbs lengthened, its claws elongated, and its skin oozed. Jace stumbled backward. Whatever he had done had triggered some sort of reflexive mutation. Now, he wasn't even sure what he was looking at.

With a quick gesture, he split into a dozen reflections, and the monster spent a moment sniffing the air before focusing in on his real body, the illusions ignored. Jace looked around for an escape route and found none. Options raced through his mind, and were discarded one by one. Jace's illusions, semi-substantial, tried to crowd the beast, buying him more time, until a flash of light, the sound of a whipping blade and tearing flesh. The horror dropped into a mangled, whimpering pile. Gideon had arrived.

"It's fine, Jace. I've got your back."

Jace straightened his coat and Damion made his sword disappear. "Did you get lost on the way? Make a stopover in Ravnica for snacks?"

"I should visit Ravnica, I hear it's a nice place." Damion added.

"It's not easy following you to a place I've never been. Hmm." Gideon stared down the hill toward Thraben. If he was having a hard time with his senses, he wasn't showing it. "Bigger than the other two. And it's got quite the force between us and it. What's the plan?"

"Um." Damion tried getting their attention but was cut off when a heat shimmer appeared in the air, and a woman stepped out of it.

Chandra rubbed her hands together. "Same plan as last time, right? Fire? I guess that wasn't the plan at the time, but it did the trick. Usually does." She put her hands on her hips as she looked down at the chaotic scene below.

"Hey!" Damion tried again but was cut off again.

The hill rumbled slightly, the only herald of Nissa's arrival. She frowned as she knelt down, placing her palm against the ground. "The mana here is dark. Twisted. It's in the soil, the trees...Emrakul did some of this, but..."

"This is your first time to Innistrad, right? 'Dark and twisted' is kind of a regular feature." Jace replied.

"Pretty sure they might be another cause of that." Damion stated pointing towards where the previous portal had been, heading towards where Emrakul is was the previous two Titans, "They're weaker than before but they are getting their powers back slowly.

Jace nodded before he continued, "So, we've basically got the same scenario as last time, with a couple minor wrinkles. Emrakul is moving on Thraben, and will get there before the other two, so we need to get there first. Damion will distract Emrakul. Nissa will use her planar glyph to tap into the leyline network. Gideon will clear us a path to get close. We channel the plane's energy through Chandra, and she does her thing."

Nissa shook her head. "It's not going to work. The leylines have already been redirected. Into that."

Jace tried to force a grin. "Well, yes. The cryptolith network. They're focusing all the leylines toward Thraben now. That, plus the fact that Thraben is the densest population of life on Innistrad, will mean that Emrakul will almost certainly be drawn there. That center point should amplify the glyph's effects. Quite similar to the hedron network, actually."

"If we can get close enough to it. But if we get that close, Emrakul will destroy us." Nissa's voice was quiet, but firm. "And if we don't get that close, I'll be able to tap into one or two leylines from any other vantage point. Three at most. It won't be enough, even for one Titan."

Chandra put her hand on Nissa's shoulder. "Hey. One leyline or twenty, you tap me in, and we'll make it enough."

Gideon sighed. "Nissa, do you believe you can do this? We're not going to try a plan that we're not all committed to."

Nissa picked up a handful of dirt and sifted it between her fingers. She glanced up to the faces of her companions. Gideon, concerned. Jace, impassive. Chandra, excited. Damion nervous. She closed her eyes and listened for several long seconds. To her heartbeat, to the blighted soil beneath her, to her memories.

"Yes."

* * *

Chandra was screaming. The others couldn't tell whether they were screams of pain or joy or rage, they just heard the screams and felt the overwhelming heat. She was incandescent, an inferno that walked, and she projected fire in every direction, scorching her friends but charring wave after wave of the mutated remains of what had been the people of Thraben, just days ago.

The screaming stopped, and the fires went out. Chandra dropped to her hands and knees, and Gideon leapt forward to cover her. They were trapped in what had been a market square, two of the four entrances blocked by rubble and fallen buildings. A dilapidated, lattice-scarred tower leaned tenuously over the cobblestone road that led farther into the heart of the city—but both it and the road they had entered on were blocked by rank after rank of Emrakul's legion.

Some of them were still recognizably human. Their voices were a screeching whirl of screams and gibberish. Some of them were what remained of beasts, of angels, of things unrecognizable. Some moved with purpose, others merely lumbered and moaned, their limbs limp and their flesh melting like candle wax.

And behind them loomed the storm.

The body of the titan was still mostly hidden from view, but its presence was everywhere. Emrakul. The storm raged, and impossible forking lightning thrashed and slashed the city below. Tentacles would emerge from the black clouds, scraping low along the ground, rumbling as city blocks were reduced to ash and stone.

"Options. I need options." Gideon surveyed the square, sural unfurled. "Nissa. Elementals?"

The elf shook her head. "I could call, but we wouldn't like what would answer."

Gideon grunted his frustration. "Chandra? Damion? You ready to go another round?"

Chandra was doubled over, hands on her knees, breathing hard. She raised a hand and gave a weak thumbs-up gesture. "Sure thing, boss. Just getting started." She coughed and straightened up—her face was covered in soot and ash, but her smile seemed genuine enough.

Damion had his demon features out as he tore threw another Eldrazi, he took a few breaths before his hands were ablaze with grey fire, "I'm ready when you are!" He said with a smile. The two of them each let out a stream of red and grey fire, the two infernos swirl together as they reduced any Eldrazi horror to ash.

"Jace. What have you got?"

Jace scanned the area again. "We're not going forward. We've got a defensible open space to work with. I say we use the glyph here."

Gideon nodded. "Nissa, can you do it?"

Nissa knelt down, putting both of her palms on the ground. A green glow snaked up from the ground, wrapping her arms in a verdant light. "Two leylines. Three if I push."

"Do it." Gideon's voice held the slightest hesitation. "The rest of us, we need to cover her. The resistance we've faced this far has been incidental. I'm not even sure it's noticed us yet."

Jace gestured toward the tower that overlooked one of the entrances to the square. Two illusionary marks appeared on it. "Chandra, I need you to hit the tower here and here. When the lattice transforms stone, it is quite resistant to damage, but expands when exposed to extreme heat. That should topple the tower and block off the street."

"What?" Chandra glanced back, hands already ablaze.

"I read it in a book. Trust me."

"If it was in that journal I swear to this planes non-existent gods I will slap you." Damion stated.

Chandra thrust her fists toward the tower, and two arcing fireballs struck precisely where Jace had marked. Seconds later, the entire structure collapsed, blocking off most of the street as it crashed into the inn on the other side.

The market square came alive—new growth sprang from the packed dirt and cobblestones, and the air, sour and foul, cleared slightly. Nissa stood motionless in the center of it, as glowing runes appeared on the ground around her, snaking their way from her feet until the complex glyph was complete.

There was a shrieking sound from the hordes around them. As one, they turned and charged toward Nissa—and Gideon charged to intercept them. He hit the line with powerful vertical slashes, and drove his body into their ranks, golden sparks lifting into the night air as blows deflected off his body. He roared a challenge as he slashed in a wide circle, trying to inflict as much damage as possible and draw as much attention to himself as he could.

But the creatures did not fall easily, and those that fell did not stay down. Even fully dismembered creatures stayed still for only a moment; they grew new hideous limbs from each fresh wound, and walked, crawled and skittered past, drawn directly to Nissa and the glyph.

"Nissa, are we ready? Because I really, really think now is a good time." Chandra paced at the edge of the flaring glyph, as Nissa muttered incomprehensible syllables, eyes firmly shut. Chandra gave a yell of warning to Gideon and Damoin before washing the entire street in a wave of flames, Damion wrapped himself in his wings as the fire passed over him. She looked back over her shoulder to see Nissa reaching down into the earth and pulling up what looked to be a spectral thorned vine, wide around as a tree trunk. She strained to pull it up from the earth, and she gasped in shock as those spectral thorns cut into her arms.

Nissa grunted through gritted teeth. "Get...ready. Almost...there." She reached down again, and raised a second vine. This one pulled and buckled, thrashing back and forth in her grasp like a serpent. With a pained effort, she managed to wrap it around her waist as an anchor, and reach down to the ground for a third.

Chandra paced, not sure what to do next. There was nothing she could do for Nissa, and Gideon was doing what he could to stop a flowing mass of creatures moving their way. She glanced up, and immediately regretted it. Limbs, tentacles, and other lattice-wracked extremities were starting to climb up over the buildings and rubble, in every direction. Hundreds of them. She glanced back to Nissa, and watched her fall to her knees.

The third spectral vine was darker than the other two, the barbs more cruel, its motion more sinuous and chaotic. Nissa was trying to get it under control, but it had managed to wrap itself around her neck, and it looked as if it was trying to drag her down into the ground.

"Life cannot stop...even when it knows it must...even when it knows it is wrong! Alone and discordant! Even when it knows!" Nissa's voice echoed, her eyes glowed a sickly purple, and then she dropped limp onto the ground. The vines were gone. The glyph went instantly dark. And the hordes of creatures continued their approach.

"Fall back!" Chandra yelled as she rushed to Nissa's side, scooping up her head as gently as she could. "Come on, come on, you need to wake up!"

"There's nowhere to fall back to, Chandra!" Jace took up position next to the two, and reached down to touch Nissa's forehead. "She's still in there. Just a bit stunned. She'll be fine in a couple minutes."

Gideon came running back to the others, as the crowd of creatures slowly pressed closer. "I'll watch over her until she wakes up. You two planeswalk back to safety."

Chandra stood, hands ablaze. "Not gonna happen. We're all walking out of here together, or..." Her bravado faded with her trailing words.

"Or not at all," Jace supplied. "Together or not at all?"

Damion seemed to be glowing with a grey light but stopped once he heard a strange noise.

Chandra opened her mouth to respond, then cocked her head to the side. "Wait...what is that?"

The Planeswalkers heard them before they saw them—growling, moaning, crunching, and tearing, as ranks of the undead spilled into the square. They moved in tight formations, throwing themselves, biting and clawing into the mutated creatures that surrounded the Planeswalkers, ripping them apart with terrible strength.

Necrotic flesh met mutated limbs in an explosive clash, both sides heedless of pain or losses. But the zombies moved with precision and purpose. When their ranks were shredded, they were immediately replenished. And when they reached the Planeswalkers, they parted, formed a defensive perimeter around them, and started pushing outward.

Then, their leader appeared. Liliana floated forth, arms spread wide, the Chain Veil hovering just beyond her fingertips. Her tattoos blazed with light and dripped with blood. At a casual flick of her wrist, bolts of necromantic energy swept in wide arcs, reducing the corpses of the mutated creatures to ash. All the cancerous growth, all the twisted vibrancy was simply snuffed out. In a field of unending, unnatural life, a sphere of stillness and death arrived, and there it reigned.

Liliana's expression softened from exultant fury to a demure smile in an instant, as she dropped gracefully to the ground. Her tattoos faded, and the Veil seemed to diminish. "Oh, Jace. I got here as soon as I could."

"What are you doing here?" Gideon was still in a combat stance, his sural flowing with imbued power.

"The nice lady with the uncomfortable dress just saved our butts, Gideon. Calm down a second." Chandra turned her back to Liliana and stepped between them.

Nissa stirred and struggled to her feet. "That...thing she carries. It's an abomination." Nissa flinched from the Veil, refusing to look anywhere near it.

Liliana's smile curved its way across her face. "That's a strange way of saying 'thank you, Liliana, you saved my life, and I'll always be in your debt.'"

"Thank you purple lady!" Damion said happily.

"You're welcome child." She said with an almost genuine smile.

Gideon grunted, and his sural retracted.

"Liliana, I'm...I didn't think I'd see you again. But you're here." Jace pulled back his hood, the glow gone from his eyes. The dark circles underneath them were plain to see.

"Eloquent as ever. Yes. You're rescued, you owe me, and now you should really planeswalk somewhere safe."

Jace shook his head. "We can't do that. We need to finish this. We're so close. And with you covering us, I think we can do this. I know we can."

Liliana rubbed her forehead. "This is not the time to be ridiculous, Jace. What we need to do is leave."

"What you need to do is take that cursed thing and go." Nissa stood unsteadily, but her sword was in hand. "I'll not fight alongside it."

Gideon raised a hand in warning. "You fought at Sea Gate alongside vampires, pirates, and worse, Nissa. We take the allies we can get, if they can be trusted."

"Ah, the meat can reason!" Liliana beamed.

"But I don't know if you _can_ be trusted. Nissa's instincts are rarely wrong, and I'm inclined to agree with her. That object is...a problem. But I don't know you. He does." Gideon turned to Jace. "So you'll decide. Tell me, Jace. Can she be trusted?"

Liliana laughed, high and clear, before Jace could answer. "That's a ridiculous question, and you know it. Look around you. I snap my fingers, and you're all overrun. You are trusting me, right now. But if you won't leave, I can't force you. So tell me, brave heroes, what's your plan now?"

She looked to each of their faces. Gideon, exasperated. Chandra, exhausted. Nissa, furious. Damion, excited. And Jace, pained.

"Oh, wonderful." Liliana smiled for lack of a better expression. "I'm sure this will end well."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Welcome to the next chapter of MTG the next Titan,** **but first, reviews!**

 **amaruq1419: T** **echnically...the hydra is inside of him. Damion can summon her whenever he wants to but he is keeping her away for the moment until he really needs her. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Zebralord23: I thought the same thing, and was sad it didn't happen, glad you like the story so far. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **And now onto the story!**

 **Quick warning, there are some disturbing scenes later on, you have been warned.**

* * *

 **Liliana**

It was a pleasure to watch the so-called Gatewatch contort and agonize. Gideon's poorly restrained frustration; Nissa's discomfort; Chandra's impatience; Jace's pained indecision, and Damions...excitement. Jace was in his favorite place—caught in the middle due to arbitrary restrictions he had made up, and wondering why life's decisions were always so difficult. _"_ _You're never going to change, are you?"_ Liliana couldn't tell whether it amused or disgusted her. _Both, sometimes_

A moonfolk flew into the clearing, her eyes wide and breath short. She took no notice of the large ring of zombies protecting them from Emrakul's minions, though she did look up at the grand spectacle of Emrakul; it was impossible not to. She landed next to Jace, speaking rapidly though too quietly for Liliana to hear. She stopped talking in a way Liliana would have found confusing if she hadn't already spent a great deal of time with a telepath. _"_ _She must be the moonfolk Jace had mentioned."_ Jace and Tamiyo continued their silent conversation, moving closer to one another as they touched minds. Liliana frowned. _"_ _Another useless mind mage, just what we needed."_

She wanted some time alone with Jace, to figure out what the endgame here was. Her zombies had brought a temporary respite. But they needed to get out of here, away from Thraben, away from Innistrad, away from _Emrakul,_ and the other Titans soon to arrive.

As she thought of the name, Liliana's eyes were drawn upward to the towering figure hovering outside of Thraben. " _Why is it just sitting there?"_ The air felt heavy, stale. Fecund with the smell of...it wasn't the dead. Liliana was comfortable with the dead and their smell. But there was a rotten quality to this smell Liliana found troubling.

There was a sudden shifting in the air, the smell and pressure of a spring day before a thunderstorm, and in that shifting Emrakul _unfolded_. Its cloud burgeoned; its long spindly tendrils lengthened and multiplied, from hundreds to thousands, to tens of thousands, more. An invisible sphere of power burst from Emrakul, rippling and hitting each Planeswalker where they stood.

Nausea roiled her stomach; vertigo twisted her mind. She had known that sickening combination of despair and sickness only a few times in her life. When her brother Josu's eyes had opened lifelessly, jet-black orbs portending doom; when she had first beheld Bolas's baleful gaze, hearing his spiteful laugh as he promised poisoned redemption; when the Chain Veil's power had first coursed through her veins, splitting her skin and cracking it open like a dry husk to let the blood, _her_ blood, seep through.

None of those moments compared to the _wrongness_ she felt in Emrakul's presence. Liliana Vess had spent her whole life seeking not to die, and for the first time in her long existence she wondered if she had been pursuing the wrong goal. In the shadow of Emrakul's flowering, death seemed just another of life's superficial lies, a false hope poorly beating back the true horror awaiting all who existed.

 _Emrakul. Emraakull. Emraaa..._

She shook her head with force, seeking to clear her mind. She had lived too long, overcome too much, to succumb now. " _We must flee this plane. This...it is insanity to stay."_ Not her thoughts, but the Raven Man speaking directly in her head, sounding...scared. Liliana took some pleasure in the fear. _So you can feel fear._ Her zombies moaned in unison, "Vessel of destruction. Root of evil. Flee." Liliana was startled. She was used to the Chain Veil talking nonsense about vessels and roots, but _flee_. Whatever Emrakul was, the Chain Veil wanted no part of it.

The pressure in the air thickened, inducing a headache that watered her eyes with pain. The other Planeswalkers crumpled, all except Jace and Damion, Jace seemed to have cast some type of spell in response. She bowed her head, her agonies multiplying. Emrakul outside. The Chain Veil inside. The damned Raven Man, wherever he was. She would not succumb. _"_ _These are my zombies, my Chain Veil, my head. Mine!"_

She stared at Emrakul, her fear receding, replaced by seething anger. _"_ _How dare you_... _"_

There was another explosion of energy from Emrakul, a full thunderstorm that made the earlier outburst seem a brief spring rain. Liliana was forced to her knees as she screamed in rage. Her zombies moaned a single word.

"Em-ra-kuuuull."

* * *

 **Jace**

 _The purple shadowed tower through rainy glass. Streaks fire heavy with top dark falling. Emrakul cackles thought with cold loop metal..._

A voice cut through the chaotic ramble, a familiar voice he was hearing for the first time. " _This is not going well. I will not succumb to this. I am better than this."_ Jace breathed evenly and slowly. Thought cohered. He tried to recall the gibberish dominating his mind just seconds ago, but it had already vanished, evanescent dew melting with the dawn. He was at the top of a long, grand spiraling staircase, white marble steps lined with ornate blue trim. The staircase was brightly lit though there was no obvious light source, and it extended down far beyond his sight.

Above was a tall and airy stone tower. Closer to ground, it looked like his sanctum back on Ravnica. Large stone table with piles of books, maps, and several...contraptions that whirred and buzzed. Bookcases stuffed with books everywhere the eye could see, and he gazed at them longingly. It didn't just look like his Ravnica apartments...it _was_ them, except back on Ravnica there was no palatial staircase spiraling down in the middle.

And back on Ravnica there was certainly no monstrous force destroying his sanctum from above.

Hundreds of feet in the air above, Jace saw large stone blocks of the tower crumbling away, or grabbed and flung. The entire roof of the tower was already gone, revealing a darkened sky flooded with an ominous purple overcast. As Jace watched the destruction, he realized the purple overcast was not a cloud. It was a _thing_. A creature. The creature resolved into a gigantic purple cloud extending hundreds of wiggling tendrils. The tendrils lashed and writhed toward the tower, accompanied by flashes of lightning and deafening booms outside. The creature had a name...

 _Emrakul_. The name sounded strange even as he said it, a word he should not know, a word he _could_ not know. Or perhaps that was the word underneath the word...Jace paused, chagrined at how effortless losing his train of thought was. _Focus_. _Emrakul_. A...thing. An Eldrazi. _The_ Eldrazi. Jace's mind struggled to encompass the nature of the entity. His head hurt, a dull, pounding ache that grew with each contemplation of the Eldrazi titan outside. _So don't think about it. Where am I? What is this place?_

More memories returned. He hadn't been in a tower. He had been in Thraben, besieged by countless hordes of Emrakul's minions as the 3 Titans converged on them. They all were. Gideon. Tamiyo. Nissa. Chandra. Damion. And Liliana _,_ who had made a surprise appearance, leading a host of zombies to save them from the cultists and creatures driven mad by Emrakul. " _Liliana came back. She..."_

A loud peal of thunder rattled outside and the ground quaked briefly beneath his feet. As the ground shook, Jace's head began to pound. Lightning flashed, illuminating Emrakul's tentacles as they tore off more huge chunks of the stone structure. The tower was large and massive, but Emrakul was dismantling it stone by stone.

A soft white light began pulsing deeper below in the stairway. The light _beckoned_. Normally Jace knew enough to distrust beckoning soft white lights in a place he did not know leading to even more places he did not know. But most normal situations did not have attacking omnipotent Eldrazi titans. The white glow looked like an increasingly intriguing option.

There was a bright explosion outside, a long, deep purpleness followed by a deafening roar of thunder. The entire tower reverberated as lightning struck it. Jace crumpled to the ground in pain, his head throbbing with agony. _What is happening to me?_ And then another voice, his voice, but coming from somewhere outside, spoke with the force of command. " _Move. Move now. Go downstairs."_

Jace looked up through the ruins of the tower into the ravening purple maw of Emrakul, its endless tentacles wrapping themselves around more and more of the stone bulwarks. He picked himself up off the floor and stumbled to the stairway. He decided the voice, _"my voice_ ," was right. It was time to leave. He descended into the depths of the tower.

* * *

 **Liliana**

Liliana's blood was on fire, her mind in shreds. One force kept her coherent—rage. _"_ _Those are my zombies. Mine! You will not have them!"_ Without conscious thought she drew deep on the power of the Chain Veil, and pushed back against the might of Emrakul. She could feel the Eldrazi's blighted touch, a touch now so powerful it affected even the dead. But even that baleful touch was no match for Liliana's necromantic prowess backed by the force of the Chain Veil. She felt her zombies return to her.

The power coursing through her veins was exhilarating. Each previous time she used the Veil there was agony and rupture, but somehow this time her rage inoculated her from the worst of the Chain Veil's injuries. _"_ _Perhaps that is the answer to unlocking the Chain Veil. I never wanted it enough."_

Voices still whispered to her from her zombies, and from the Veil directly in her mind. "Vessel of destruction. Root of evil." Those weren't the only voices she heard. The Raven Man added his stultifying tones. " _We must leave here. This is madness. I thought you wanted to conquer death. The entity you face here is older than time, and more powerful than you, even if you wielded a hundred Chain Veils! We must leave!"_ The Raven Man tried to issue it as a command. Never had he sounded so naked, so vulnerable.

Liliana spared a glance at the other Planeswalkers. Chandra, Tamiyo, and Gideon were sprawled on the ground, unconscious. She briefly reached out with her power, but their forms did not respond to necromantic touch; they all still lived. Nissa was rooted in place, screaming, the words emanating from her mouth gibberish. Green and purple energy pooled around her, clashing, ebbing and flowing. Jace and Damion were the only ones who stood and seemed to be conscious, though they took no notice of her. She noticed a blue shimmer around Jace, a penumbra that extended to all five of the other Planeswalkers. All except her and Damion. _"Is that what's keeping you alive?"_

The penumbra did not extend to her. But she didn't need his help. Liliana had known considerable power, power partnered with the wisdom and ruthlessness born from two hundred long years of life. But she knew none of that would have protected her from the mental onslaught from Emrakul. She would have been obliterated, except for the power of the Chain Veil.

Power she now wielded, and wielded gladly. She laughed with the thrill of it. It was the closest she had yet come to the nigh-omnipotence of her former self. " _I can do anything."_ Still the voices of the Veil whispered in her head. " _Vessel. Vessel of destruction. We must flee the World-Ender. The World-Creator. Vessel!"_ The Raven Man's voice choked with panic. " _Listen to the Veil, you idiot! Flee!"_ Her zombies. "Root of evil. Vessel of destruction. Vessel!"

Liliana laughed, a laughter suffused with rage and power. "I. AM. NOT. A. VESSEL!"

She shut down the voices of the Veil and the Raven Man both, silencing them abruptly. She could feel their fury and impotence as they railed against her. " _All that matters is my will. My desire. Nothing can stand before me."_ She tapped into the Veil, harnessing more power than she had ever dared before.

 _"I don't belong to you. You belong to me."_

She gathered the energies of the Veil, harnessed them to her own considerable power and experience. In the throes of such power she no longer felt Emrakul's mental assault.

She turned her full attention to the gigantic Eldrazi titan. As if it recognized her growing power, the titan was moving slowly in her direction. _"Everyone seems to be afraid of you, Emrakul."_ She laughed again, a cackle as she reveled in her power. _"No one thinks I can beat you. Let's find out."_

The ground suddenly shook as several large Eldrazi, very different from Emrakuls followers, rose up and looked down at them, they either had bone masks or large jagged black blades floating near them. Ulamog and Kozileks broods had arrived. Liliana grit her teeth before a blinding grey light caught her attention as well as the Eldrazi, Damion was lit up as a massive creature started to form around them. Despite being much smaller than it was on Zendikar, Damions pet hydra had arrived. Damion fell to his knees as the Hydra let out a roar that shook all of Thraben, it looked at Liliana for a moment before focusing on the Eldrazi charging towards them. It wasted no time in dealing with the Eldrazi before her zombies could even try.

* * *

 **Jace**

As Jace descended he would occasionally glance up, but shadows obscured all but a few feet behind him. _I guess these stairs only go down._ He thought he should find being shepherded along an unknown corridor down into the depths of a strange tower alarming, especially accompanied by the continued assault and thunder he still heard above, but he was calm. _Down here is definitely safer than up there._

The stone wall next to him began shimmering. As he watched, the stone turned to glass, or at least some type of transparent material. The entire wall next to him, from steps to ceiling, transformed into a clear pane. Through the window was a scene, like a diorama children would make for school, but this diorama moved.

The central figure in the scene was Gideon. He was squaring off against some kind of celestial being who towered over him. Literally celestial—the figure was made of a starry night sky. The celestial figure had two large black horns framing a blue, non-human face. He wielded an impossibly large whip with a human skull in the handle. Gideon looked suitably Gideon-esque, square jaw, golden sural, and gleaming armor intact. But the look on his face was not the Gideon Jace knew at all. This Gideon looked worried, almost scared. There was anger on that face...but also fear. _Interesting_.

Around Gideon stood the other members of the Gatewatch. Chandra, her hands and head blazing. Nissa. Damion, in his demonic form. Even a Jace. _"Surely I'm taller than that?"_ The celestial figure spread his arms out wide, whip to the side. He spoke with a deep, resonating voice that seemed to bubble up from the ground. "And what is it you, Kytheon Iora, most desire? What do you truly want?"

"No!" Gideon shouted, his face contorted in defiance and pain. "There is nothing you can offer me, Erebos, nothing! From you, all is poison."

The being, _Erebos_ , raised his whip. "It is not an offer, mortal. Tell me true what you most desire or I will kill your friends, one by one."

Gideon's shoulders slumped, his sural retreated back into its sheath. He looked up at Erebos, his face a mixture of anger and despair. "I most desire..." he paused, drawing a deep breath, "I most desire to protect others, to save them..."

"You lie." Erebos's whip lashed out, and as it struck the Jace next to Gideon he disintegrated, his flesh dissolving upon its touch. _"I really don't like watching myself die."_ Gideon screamed and lunged, his sural flashing, but Erebos stood unmoved. He raised his hand and Gideon was flung backwards.

"You cannot defeat me, mortal. You never have. You never will. Tell me truth and I will let the rest of your friends live."

There was a loud peal of thunder outside, _Emrakul, that's Emrakul_ , and Jace could not hear Gideon's reply over the din. Whatever Gideon's answer, Erebos was not satisfied. Once more the whip lashed, and now Nissa disintegrated with its touch. Gideon flinched as Nissa was struck down, but did not attack this time. Chandra and Damion each stood there looking blank, her flaming hands at her side doing nothing and his demonic features seemed like stone. _"This scene is definitely not reality. Is it inside Gideon's head?"_

Gideon's voice crackled with anger. "I want to defeat you, to tear you down so you can no longer..."

"No. You continue to speak lies." Erebos's voice, in contrast, was placid as a graveyard. Another lash of the whip, only it hit both Chandra and Damion causing them to vanish. "Must you lose everyone before you acknowledge truth, mortal? All your stubbornness to what end? You are determined to feel the most pain." Erebos's whip danced with its master's touch. "What do you want?"

Gideon raised his head to the skies and screamed, "I want..." but before he finished his sentence the window went dark.

Jace stayed still, silent, stunned at all he had witnessed. _"Who is Erebos? What pain is Gideon going through?"_ Jace had had no idea his friend was suffering this way. _"And my ignorance about Gideon is matched by my lack of knowledge of what is going on here._ _Are these dreams? Am I inside Gideon's head? The Emrakul above certainly seems real."_

The shadows pressed closer to Jace. _"_ _I need to keep moving. The answers are farther down."_ He had only walked several steps when another wall went transparent. This time the scene featured Tamiyo.

She sat hunched on a small workbench, poring over a large unfurled scroll on a dusty table. The sole illumination in the scene was a candle, but it gave off far too much light for its size. Behind Tamiyo were shelves full of books, and more piles of books beside them. Jace felt a nostalgic pang. _"To be surrounded by nothing but books and all the time to read them."_ That hadn't been his life for some time now, and wouldn't be again any time soon.

Blood began leaking from one of Tamiyo's eyes. It started with a slow drip, each drop hitting the table with a small _plip_. As she continued to read the scroll, the other eye began dripping blood as well, each drop alternating with each other. _Plip-plip. Plip-plip. Plip-plip._

Jace watched in horror as flesh-like lattices began to grow over Tamiyo's eyes, covering them entirely. _The mark of Emrakul._ Jace had seen too much of Emrakul's signature over the last few days. The blood continued to drip through the lattices. _Plip-plip. Plip-plip. Plip-plip._

The lattices blossomed elsewhere. Fleshy growths burst from Tamiyo's fingers, covering both hands in the weblike structures. The growths attached to the table beneath, sticking, binding her hands to the table. Now she could no longer see nor move her hands. The blood kept dropping from her eyes. _Plip-plip. Plip-plip. Plip-plip._

As she lost the use of her eyes and hands, Tamiyo whispered throughout, though no audible sound emerged. The fleshy tendrils began webbing her mouth closed, lip tied to lip with each strand of Emrakul's web. Even once her mouth was sewn shut, the lattice continued to grow, to wiggle and writhe. The tendrils extended far out from her closed mouth, and now as the blood continued to drip from her eyes the tendrils would seize a drop, curling around it, wiggling as the blood seeped into its oily skin. _Plip-wiggle. Plip-wiggle. Plip-wiggle._

Tamiyo was motionless, her eyes, mouth, and hands frozen. Jace had touched Tamiyo mind to mind, knew the essence of her better than most. _Her ability to see, to speak, to write, these are the essential tools of her magic, her communication. These are what define her. She is being erased._ Jace screamed and pounded on the window, but neither Tamiyo nor anything else in the room stirred. The window faded to opaque stone.

Jace slumped. _"What is this place? This cannot be the minds of my friends. Can it?"_ The shadows loomed over him. He was tired, so very tired. He slowly picked himself up and continued his descent.

* * *

 **Liliana**

 _"This power. It is a revelation."_ All it had taken was Liliana's will. Her desire. For so long she had thought herself utterly pragmatic and driven to her cause. To not die. To kill her demon tormentors. But now she knew she had been unwilling to take that final step, to cross over the last barrier. _"I had restraint. How foolish."_

In front of her loomed Emrakul. An Eldrazi titan. A creature older than time, if the voices in her head told truth. _"I think you are a thing. A powerful thing, but something that lives. And if you live, you can die. And if you die,"_ another smile, _"then you belong to me."_

The energies of the Veil writhed and bucked under her control. They wanted to be used to wither, to kill. _"Power is meant to be used."_ She gathered it, shaped it, and sent one coruscating blast of necromantic energy after another at the towering figure of Emrakul, hurling the titan back with their force.

There was a song in Liliana's head, a song blotting out all else. It was the song of power and it sang such a sweet melody. _"This is what I was born for. This is my destiny."_ Each blast that hit Emrakul left gaping trenches of scarred dead material, large tentacles the size of towers left shriveled and withered. Some of the material regenerated, but not enough before being hit by Liliana's next blast. For the first time since blossoming, Emrakul was _shrinking_. It was being thrust back. Liliana was _winning_.

The Raven Man's voice cut through her delight, a cold splash of sewer water. _"You know not what you do, what you dare. You cannot hope to contain this power for much longer."_

Liliana's scorn draped each word she thought back in reply. _"Do not seek to contain me with your small expectations, little man. Today is the day I destroy an Eldrazi titan. Why? Because I dare."_

She wished more of the Gatewatch was conscious to watch her victory. _"This is what power looks like, you pathetic excuses for Planeswalkers."_ She flung more blasts at Emrakul, pressing her attack.

* * *

 **Jace**

Jace was not surprised to see another window appear shortly. This time it was Chandra. Or at least he assumed it was Chandra. She was a little girl, but the red hair and shape of her face still suggested the woman she would one day become. Chandra was surrounded by a menacing group of guards, their gear ornate and colorful, from a place Jace did not recognize. _Her home._ The guards raised their pikes, and Chandra was sobbing, tears fighting with gasps of breath for control of her face.

One of the guards, tall and spindly, stepped forward. His face had a wide smile on it, in cruel contrast to his awful words. "We killed your daddy, renegade. We killed your _mommy_. And now we're going to kill you." Jace suspected the scene wasn't real, just a nightmare in Chandra's head, but his fists still balled up. _"No one should have to endure this kind of pain."_ The guards moved forward with their pikes as their leader sneered, "And the best part, the absolute best part, is there is nothing you can do about it."

Chandra stopped crying and stared at her persecutors. A tiny wisp of flame flared from one eye. "You're wrong," she said, her voice not sounding like a child's at all. "There is something I can do." Her body was changing, growing, evolving before his eyes into the recognizable Chandra he knew. "Something I can always do. I can burn." Fire jetted from her head and hands.

She smiled. The guards backed away, uncertain. She took a step forward. "I can make you burn." The leader burst into flame. He screamed in agony. "I can make all of you burn." Now the other guards were on fire, their skin crackling and bubbling, their high-pitched cries piercing the sky. "I can make the whole world burn." Heat and light and fire burst forth, an incandescent whiteness of energy, enveloping and burning everything, including Chandra. Chandra screamed, though whether in agony or delight, Jace could not say.

The window faded to stone, but Jace still felt the heat pouring off the walls. It was one of the first principles of illusions. _"Just because it's only in your head doesn't mean it can't kill you."_

Gideon, Tamiyo, Chandra...but no Damion or Liliana yet. Urgency propelled him downstairs and he looked eagerly as the next window appeared. His face fell when he saw the figure behind the wall. _"Oh, Nissa."_ He tried not to be disappointed, though he found it hard to understand the elf Planeswalker.

The background behind Nissa looked exactly like the outside world—the dark, purple sky, the odd flashes of light, the looming shadow of Emrakul and Liliana with her zombies. Nissa stood in agony in the center. She screamed. She _writhed_. Twisting, contorting, shaking, but those were not the only injuries done to her. There was something... _wriggling_...on her hands.

As Jace peered closer, he noticed Nissa's fingers had tiny fingers growing on them, tens of tiny fingers extending out of each finger. And then he saw hair-thin fingers growing out of the tiny fingers. He shuddered, but as he saw her eyes he let out an involuntary scream. From each of Nissa's eye sockets protruded several tiny eye shoots, and out of each eye shoot grew several tinier ones. Green energy flashed out of her eyes and hands, but interlaced in the green was a dark, violent purple.

 _"Emrakul is Emrakul is Emrakul forever."_

Jace didn't know where the thought came from, but even in its nonsense it felt true. _"Forever and ever and ev..."_

"Negglish pthoniki ab'ahor!" gibberish words spouted from Nissa, or if not gibberish then no language Jace had ever heard. As she spoke, her head spasmed, and in between words her tongue would loll out of her mouth. _"What are those things on her tongue? Oh, no. No no no no. I am hitting the limit of details I want to notice. No, I am well past the limit."_

As nonsense and spittle spewed from her mouth, rational words began to infiltrate the gibberish. "Shigg epsi-everything chut'ghb ends! Gilma-everything chts-dies!" The spasms subsided, her voice gaining strength and poise. Now the energy emanating from her was all purple, a deep purple with no green to be found. She raised her head and arms to the sky and shouted.

"Growth! Growth is the answer! The only answer! Entropy cannot lose. But must it win? Of course sacrifice must be made. Why do they fight it? Eternity without sacrifice offers only the screaming torpor. Blood must be churned, churned thick. Why do they fear life? Why do they fear _truth_?"

Nissa uttering recognizable words made no appreciable impact on Jace's ability to understand her. Even though he knew it was useless, he reached to her mind to mind. _"Nissa, help me. Help me understand. What are you saying?"_

Nissa shifted and brought her gaze to meet Jace's directly through the window. _"_ _She sees me."_ Jace shivered, frozen to the spot. He could not move, could not look away. Her eyes glowed darkly purple. She spoke directly to him. "I can do anything I want. Anything at all. Remember that. The only thing saving you is..." the purple glow faded, the nimbus around her dissipating, "...I don't want anything."

She stared at him for long seconds, her face distorted and grotesque as her extra eye shoots continued to squirm. The window mercifully faded to stone.

Jace remained frozen in front of the wall. He shook, sweat beading down his hair onto his face and the back of his neck. The shadows continued to press from above. _"_ _How long have I been on these stairs? What is happening to my friends?"_ Down still beckoned, brightly lit and pulling at him. But he didn't want to move. He didn't want to do anything. _"Sleep. I could sleep. I might not wake up, but would that be so bad?"_ His eyes drooped, and a pleasant fuzziness crept over his mind. He sat on the stairs. _"_ _I am so tired."_

Drifting off to sleep made him think of Liliana. He didn't know where she was, or what she faced. _She isn't here. She's not in this place._ But if he acknowledged the truth, she never needed him anyway. "Sad. For a while. And then I'll get over it." That's what she had said back in her castle, comparing the possibility of his death to that of a dog's. _"A dog._ _Would she really not care any more about my death than a dog's? That can't be true. A dog."_ The thought gnawed.

 _"Sleep, how could I possibly be thinking of sleeping right now? What is happening to me?"_ He couldn't tell whether it was true exhaustion, or a more malevolent effect. _"Does it matter? The solution is the same."_ He stood. _"Keep going downstairs. Figure this out. Don't die. Beat Emrakul."_ He thought of Liliana as he continued his descent.

* * *

 **Liliana**

The first sign of trouble was an interruption to her tempo. Liliana had never wielded so much energy before, and she had been able to fling blast after blast at Emrakul with each breath. Breathe, blast, breathe, blast.

But though her power didn't fail her, her body did. She hesitated for a second, took a long breath, and in that gap Emrakul surged, its body and tendrils regrowing at a faster pace than Liliana thought possible. Several thick tendrils lashed at Liliana only to wither and desiccate at the touch of her magic, but several more quickly followed. Where once each blast from Liliana drove Emrakul back, now it was all she could do to stand her ground. The surge was to much for the hydra to handle and was pinned to the ground by Emrakuls tentacles and Damion fell to the ground seemingly unconscious.

 _"You are mortal. You have limits. It does not."_ The Raven Man's voice stabbed her brain with cold whispers. _"Look upon this grass and dirt, you fool. You have made it your graveyard."_

She screamed in rage as she let loose more blasts of power. The titan's advance halted in the face of such an onslaught. But seconds later the energy ebbed. Liliana took large gasping breaths and Emrakul's advance continued once more.

 _"I am not going to die today_ ," she snarled to the Raven Man, to the Veil, to anything that would listen. To herself. Emrakul and its tendrils continued their unceasing assault. _"I am not going to die today."_

 _"If you're lucky, Liliana, your death is now the best possible outcome of today. You have doomed us both."_ The Raven Man spoke without contempt, without hatred or fear. He sounded...resigned. For the first time since rescuing the Gatewatch, Liliana was afraid.

* * *

 **Jace**

Jace expected another wall to turn transparent, to show him a scene from the mind of either Damion or Liliana. What he did not expect was the stairway to end in a door.

It was a thick oak door, banded with iron, with no port or keyhole. Just wood and iron, framed in the same thick stone as the rest of the stairway. He put his hand on the door. A voice screamed, _no no no no no no_ , and pure terror seized his brain. But the voice trailed off, the terror receding. Jace looked up the stairs. The shadows did not press closer but nor did they part to reveal the way he had come. If he wanted to progress, it was through this door. He pushed the door forward and stepped through.

The room was formless and colorless. Vertigo overcame him as his mind struggled to perceive the space. Jace felt the long pull of forever, an endless recursion looping into terror _to never know the peace of oblivion to just to just to just._..until reality snapped into place. The nothingness surrounding him materialized into a field of white.

There was an angel in front of him.

She approached, and Jace noticed the space slowly taking shape around her, around both of them. They were in a real place, a room, a copy of the sanctum he had first begun this bizarre journey in. His sanctum. The angel was tall, taller than any angel he had seen before, even Avacyn. And her wings were gigantic, thick and dense. They furled behind her almost like a mushroom cloud...Jace also took notice of a sleeping Damion near her feet.

Jace broke out into a cold sweat pumped by a racing heart. _"No oh no oh no..."_

Her face was hidden by a large hood, but in very plain sight were the two swords she carried, one in each hand. Her tunic frayed at the hemline into ribbons, tens of ribbons, no, hundreds, and they seemed to multiply as Jace watched. They wriggled and writhed. As if they noticed Jace, the ribbons of her tunic probed the air in front of him, alive. _"If I scream, I don't know if I'll ever stop. So I better not scream. Would crying help? I'm open to crying if it will help."_

Jace laughed in a combination of amusement and fear. _"I'm so glad I find myself funny_." The laughter broke through the paralysis, sparking his mind. _"I know this angel. I have seen her before."_ Or at least he had seen statues of her before, back on Zendikar. "Emeria?" he croaked, the word sounding foreign on his lips.

She looked at him, but he could not see her face cloaked in the hood. Jace took careful note of the ribbons and the swords, but nothing moved to attack him. His confidence grew.

"Are you...are you...Emeria? Are you...Emrakul?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Welcome to the latest chapter, in this chapter I'll be wrapping up the Eldritch Moon arc before I start the Kaledsh arc. Hope you enjoy!**

 **No pov**

"May I sit down?" The voice was a female voice. Light, almost airy. Jace might have even said it trilled, in different circumstances. _"Not these circumstances, though_." Jace couldn't see any lips move through her hood to produce the voice, but it sounded like a normal voice. _Normal-ish._

Jace was so busy analyzing the voice it took him a moment to parse what was actually asked. "You're asking me?" Of all the surprises of this day, getting asked a polite question should not have ranked high on the list. But it might be at the top.

"This is your home," a pause, "Jace. Jace Beleren." As she said "Beleren" it came out syllable by syllable.

 _"I'm very afraid right now. I'm also so very curious. What an odd juxtaposition_."

"I am just a visitor here. So, may I?" She stood waiting.

 _"How much more surreal can this day get?"_ He was confident he didn't want an actual answer to the question. _"Remember what's important—don't die. Figure this out. Beat Emrakul."_ His mantra. He added another sentence. _"Invite Emrakul for a cup of tea."_ He smiled, and the smile reached his face. "Please, by all means. Please sit down." Jace waved airily at the large stone table, and Emeria— _no, I don't know what this is, stop assuming I do_ , the angel sat down at the table.

She sheathed both of her swords behind her back. When her hands came back to the table they were holding a large scroll, a scroll with iron bands. _"I've seen a scroll like that before. Where?"_

"You do not mind if I work while we talk, do you?" Her lilting voice sounded like it could come straight from an Azorius guildmage wanting guidance on a point of protocol.

 _"Embrace this surreality. Stop fighting it. See where it goes."_ "Of course, please. I would not want to keep you from your work." She nodded and unrolled the scroll. A creeping sensation nagged at the back of Jace's head. _"Where have I seen that scroll?"_ But he could not place it. From somewhere a long stylus appeared, and she began writing in the scroll.

Jace cleared his throat. "Well, since we're, umm...you know, having a _talk_. Who are you exactly? What is this place? What is going on?" Jace could not afford to be picky about where to get answers from. He could not quell his normal instinct to mind-read, _not knowing is so much worse than insanity_ , but there was...nothing. Nothing he could latch on to. _Secrets are no fun when they stay secret_. He was going to have to do this in the mundane style everyone else had to. Through words. Words with an Eldrazi titan.

"Everything ends. Everything dies. Wholeness is always behind us. Time points only one way." There were echoes of Nissa's earlier insane comments, but Jace didn't understand it any more coming from the angel. She didn't look up as she wrote, her hood obscuring whatever light voice uttered those strange words.

"Are you Emrakul?" Jace didn't know what he was risking, and increasingly didn't care. _Caution is for those with a winning hand._ "What do you want?"

She paused her writing, considering the scroll. "This is all wrong. I am incomplete, unfulfilled, _inchoate_. There should be blossoms, not barren resentment. The soil was not receptive. It is not my time. Not yet." The way she said, _yet_ , sent a shiver through Jace's neck. She resumed her writing, blotting out a large section of dried ink.

"Enough!" Jace shouted. "You are here for a reason! You could kill me any number of ways, with your swords or your tentacles, but you're not. You're sitting here, uttering nonsense...why? I don't understand what you're saying and I don't understand what you want. Help me. Please." As Jace talked his anger cooled, but it was replaced by something even more useful. Focus. He felt a fog clearing, a fog that only in its recession revealed how much it was obscuring.

"Do you play chess?" The voice continued as if Jace had been spouting as much nonsense as she was. Jace was tempted to shout again, but didn't think it would do much good. Besides, he _did_ play chess. He was quite good at it.

"Yes, I play chess."

"Would you play a game with me?" She stopped writing and rolled up the scroll.

"I'm not sure I have time to play..."

"If you win, this all stops. I will give you all the answers you want." She tucked the scroll behind her.

Jace suspected a trap, but he was _really_ good at chess. "And if you win?"

"I am already winning, Jace Beleren. Let us play a game."

"Uh, there is one problem." Jace glanced around. In his real apartments back on Ravnica there was a chessboard, a quite fancy one he had been gifted by the Boros, but in this strange simulacrum, no such board was visible. "I, uh, don't seem to have..."

The angel waved her hand, and a chessboard appeared on the table taking up the space where the scroll used to be. The board and pieces were thick stone, solid with fine detail. Jace raised an eyebrow, but if the angel noticed, she made no sign. _I suppose if she just limits herself to creating chessboards, we will be okay._ "Shall we play?" She gestured toward the board. Jace's side was white, and he took the first move. _Magnanimous of her._

"You will need to move faster, Jace. Time is running out." _Faster?_ He was moving near instantaneously. She did not seem a particularly skilled player, and Jace began to see the outline of a possible checkmate in six or seven moves.

"Communication between us is difficult. I cannot talk to you. I do not even really know you exist. But you, your brain, it is very... _adaptable_." There, a blunder. He had mate in five moves. Confident of his victory, he paused. She was saying actual information he could use.

"So, then, what is all this?" He waved his hands around them. "What are you? How does my _adaptable_ brain make this happen?"

"You know those answers better than I." She put her hand on a piece, hesitated. "Or, at least, a part of you does. How is your headache?"

 _"How did she know about my headache?"_ In truth it was reduced to a low residual throb, noticeable but not debilitating. "It's...it's fine. So you are not Emeria? Are you even real?"

"I was personified a long time ago. Forces cannot be reasoned with. Agency does not exist in propagating waves. If you take shortcuts to try and grapple with what you cannot perceive, cannot even comprehend, who am I to gainsay? No one. You. Perhaps."

The headache grew. Jace and the...whatever it was exchanged several more moves. Checkmate was a move away. The more Jace considered, the more this all possibly made bizarre sense. This was not Emeria. This was not Emrakul. This was his mind's attempt to make sense of whatever pressures or emanations he was feeling from Emrakul. He had to personify it to even have a chance of making sense of it. But to believe in that personification was to invite death. Or worse. The vertigo lurched. _Forever and ever and ever and emer and emra..._

 _"Enough_. _"_ He put his hand on his queen, moved it into position. "Checkmate." He smiled. He was not sure what winning this game meant, but it felt good to win, to win _something_. She stopped, looked at the board.

"So it is." She put her hands to her hood and lowered it. Jace flinched instinctively, suddenly certain he did _not_ want to know what she looked like...but she looked normal. Like an angel. Like the statue he had seen back on Zendikar. He took a long, slow breath, exhaled.

One of the pawns beside his queen started to writhe and flow. Hands and a small stone sword appeared on the pawn, and it turned to stab the queen. The queen piece shrieked, blood pouring out of its side. It toppled to the ground, bleeding and shaking. Dying. The rest of the board was pandemonium as more of Jace's pieces transformed. Mutated. They attacked one another mercilessly, killing each other, until the few remaining pieces pirouetted to face the other side of the board. They now all held weapons, weapons dripping with blood, and began a slow march towards Jace's king, who now resembled nothing other than Jace himself.

Jace gaped at the chaos. "Wha...buh...tha...that's...that's not fair! You cheated! You can't do that! Those are my pieces!"

The angel gave a small smile, "They are all my pieces, Jace Beleren. They always were. I just no longer want to play."

A noise came from below them causing Jace to remember Damion was sleeping on the floor, the angel smile turned genuine as she lifted the young demon up and rested him on her lap. "Motherhood is such a complex thing, in all my time I never considered the idea till after I created him." She patted his head as Damion smiled in his sleep, she seemed to pull out a grey orb from his head before it broke apart into several chess pieces. Only they were much more detailed, most of them appeared to be Angels, one of them was a large hydra, and one of the angels had black wings, and the last one seemed to be larger than the others. She took the larger Angel and the black winged pieces as well as the hydra and examined them for a moment. "Tell me Jace, what happens to him if you had killed us?"

 _"What happens to him?"_ Jace thought it over but was uncertain.

"He will be alone, no one to return to, only to those who killed his family." Jaces eyes slightly widen, Emrakul tapped the two Angel and Hydra pieces causing them to be covered in a purple light. She waved her hand causing the pieces to become an orb again before sinking into Damion. "I will never allow that to happen." The atmosphere in the room suddenly became hostile before going back to normal. "I know you wouldn't want that either." Her smile faded as she looked up at Jace "For as long as I have had him with me, he was happiest when he was with me. But when he was with you and your friends..." She paused for a moment, "I rarely see him so happy when he is away from me. So I will make this very clear in words you can understand." She stood up and set Damion down, "Do **not** betray him. Or I we will destroy all you hold dear."

Jace nodded before the angel's face began to melt, chunks of flesh sloughing off as the rest of her—wings, swords, ribbons, and all—began to dissipate into a purplish smoke.

There was a huge crackling explosion outside accompanied by a large grinding sound. The top of the room was torn away, revealing the now-familiar sight of Emrakul, the gigantic mushroom cloud with its hundreds of tendrils and flashing lightning, eating away at the room.

Her voice continued, light and airy as a breeze. "It is coming, Jace. _I_ am coming. Keep moving. Find your answers. But quickly. Time points one way, and it does so with _hunger_."

A door appeared at the end of the room, ornate with a bright blue glow behind it. Jace took another look at Emrakul above, and fled.

* * *

 **Liliana**

Liliana did everything she could to stay alive.

She had been using some of her power to hold back the effects of using the Chain Veil. She kept her skin from cracking, her veins from spilling blood. In taking over the Chain Veil completely, she thought she had discovered the secrets to its true use.

She was wrong.

But as agonizing as her skin splitting and her veins rupturing was, it was better than oblivion against the onslaught of Emrakul. She still drew on immense amounts of power, but now all that power was put to one use. Staying alive for another moment.

Her moments were running out. As Emrakul lashed and flayed against her magic, she directed her zombies to attack. They bit, grabbed, struck against Emrakul, like fleas versus a storm, with similar effect. Zombies were destroyed by the hundreds under Emrakul's assault, and hundreds more disintegrated without touch as Liliana instinctively drew upon their animating magic to fuel another moment of survival.

If there was any consolation in her impending defeat, it was the blessed silence inside her head. There were no voices from the Raven Man, no chanting or whispers from the Veil. Even as her reality was blood and pain and a desperate fight to stay alive, her mind was hers and hers alone. There was consolation there, if she chose to take it.

A large tendril, thick as her torso, broke through and grabbed her around the waist. She screamed in rage and blasted through the tendril, its desiccated flesh sloughing off. She coughed up blood, swaying, even as more tendrils came.

She was going to die here.

She looked at the other Planeswalkers, their bodies still protected by the large clearing her dwindling zombies provided. Nissa was no longer screaming, but lay unconscious like the rest of them. Damion had fallen and his hydra seemed to be frozen as purple lines similar to her own covered it. Only Jace stood, the blue shimmer still in place protecting them from...something, but he didn't move, didn't speak.

"Jace!" Her scream produced no response. No sign of recognition.

"Jace, you bastard! You better be doing something useful!" That was all she had time as Emrakul pressed. Each moment mattered. That became her mantra. _One more moment. One more moment. One more..._

* * *

 **Jace**

Jace flung himself through the open portal, seeking refuge from Emrakul's assault.

He was in a small, dark room, a copy of one of his innermost sanctums back on Ravnica. There, standing in front of him, was himself.

With all the other insanity Jace had experienced since first waking up in the tower, facing himself was one of the more benign confusions.

"Oh, this should be good."

The copy didn't smile, didn't move. "You got here. About time. But I don't know you're me." He pondered for a moment. "Answer this riddle."

"What? I'm done with riddles. I need answers. What—"

"First, a riddle," the copy said.

"You must be joking. I'm not going to stand here and get quizzed by either a runaway tyrant version of myself or, worse, some malignant impostor who just wants to waste my time!" Jace ended his rant with an angry shout.

The copy stood there with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow. _"Am I really this infuriating? I am this infuriating. I need to work on that."_

"It's only infuriating when you know I'm right. I need to know you're me." Jace wondered if there would be permanent consequences to punching himself in the face. _Probably_.

"How do I know you're me?" It wasn't the snappiest retort, but it was all he had at the moment. His brain was processing a lot right now.

"Because I'm the one with answers. You're wasting time, time we don't have." The copy tapped his foot in a way Jace recognized all too well. _"I don't know that I can ever interact with another human again. I'm too annoying to be with."_

He slumped his shoulders and waved a hand. "Fine, ask away."

"No bigger than a pebble but my closing covers the entire world, what am I?"

" _That?_ That's your riddle? Your security system to make sure I'm you? You must be an impostor, because I refuse to believe I'm that dumb."

"You still haven't answered the question. This conversation is going to end quickly if you don't." The copy's eyes glowed blue in a way Jace was perversely glad to find menacing. _"It's good to be reminded you can menace now and then."_

"Pah. I thought I would have come up with something difficult. Eyes. The answer is eyes." Jace stared at his copy, and then blinked ostentatiously several times to illustrate the point. "I see the whole world. Now I don't. See. Not see. How could this riddle possibly have been useful?" The copy relaxed, letting go of whatever spell he had prepared.

And then Jace understood. The point of the riddle wasn't to see if he solved it. The point was to see how dismissive and incredulous he was at an easy riddle. He nodded. _Okay, this is me._ He knew the copy was thinking the same thing.

"Fine, I'm me. I mean, I'm...yes, we're each other. Probably. You promised answers." Jace reached out to read his copy's mind, but nothing happened.

"That's not how it works here. Here, we talk." Another coy smile.

"All right," Jace struggled not to clench his jaw. "Talk. Now."

The copy pondered briefly. "I still don't know all the things you don't know. Ask me questions."

"Where are we?" Jace wasn't sure it was the most pressing question, but he had been wandering this forsaken tower for the last hour, and he really wanted to know where he was.

"Really, that's the part you haven't figured out yet?" _You condescending_...Jace's anger was not abated by the fact that the condescension was coming from himself. And in that flash of anger he understood. Jace remembered.

 _Emrakul rising, flowering, blooming._ Liliana had given them all a momentary relapse from Emrakul's minions with her zombies, but none of them were prepared for the rise of Emrakul itself. The physical signs were apparent, but the mental assault was the real danger. A pressure, a pain, unlike any other he had felt before. Tamiyo's chime trick instantly dissolved. There had been no time for a plan, no time for thought.

The spell he had cast was reflexive. One he had prepared a very long time ago, to shield his mind from imminent dissolution.

 _I'm not_ in _a tower. I_ am _the tower._ Everything snapped into place. The scenes of his friends, the conversation with Emeria, even this conversation right now, all were taking place inside his mind, given sustenance and structure by the power of his spell. _Welcome to residence Jace, everyone. Hope you enjoyed your stay._ Based on the scenes he had seen in his friends' minds, he was confident no one had enjoyed it. But the alternative was oblivion, or worse _forever and ever and ever and emer..._

He shook his head rapidly trying to clear the fugue, noticing his copy did the same motion at the same time. The pressure from Emrakul was increasing. Jace looked up and noticed the top of the room shaking. _It's attacking. It's coming._

"And you? Me?"

"Innistrad was a weird place. A dangerous place. As soon as I arrived I knew something was wrong. I set up some...fail-safes in the event of something disastrous occurring. Puzzles within puzzles, shadows within shadows. Emrakul is the scariest thing I, _we_ , have ever faced. So I made a contingency plan to keep _me_ separate from _me_. To work out what was really going on, and be able to stop it. Fix it. You know." And now he did know.

He was so _good_ at self-alteration. He shivered, wondering which him was the real Jace. The _better_ Jace. _Nonsense. It's me, of course._

"Hey there," the copy smiled. "Don't get ahead of yourself. You're only the second smartest person in this room."

"Enough." Jace's mind was starting to whir at a speed both familiar and comforting. "The plan. I better not have created you just for you to tell me a dumb riddle. We don't know how to beat Emrakul."

"Talk with Tamiyo. She was in the middle of telling us interesting things when Emrakul attacked."

"That's your useful input? Talk with Tamiyo?"

"No, my useful input is actually figuring out how to have all of us walk and talk and think normally even with the psychic equivalent of a Rakdos-Golgari kill-party times infinity hammering away at us. It's a fairly difficult trick, in fact."

"Oh. Well, thanks, me. Good job."

"Everyone is in pretty bad shape. But at least we will be able to think coherently. It's...not good out there. And there's another problem."

"What's..." even as he asked the question, the answer flowed in his brain. The two parts of Jace were merging, becoming one. There were words, but the words were spoken by each of them at the same time.

"Liliana is about to die." Jace dissolved the spell. The tower faded into reality.

* * *

 **Jace**

He came back to chaos. Liliana was on the ground in front of him, unconscious, bleeding profusely from multiple wounds. Above them Emrakul hovered in her full unfolding, a bright lavender light glowing in the center of her body, the eye of her storm. Her tentacles, broad and thick, decimating what was left of Thraben.

Liliana's zombies were a mere fraction of what they had been before Jace's spell. The humans and beasts infected by Emrakul's madness had started to mass again, threatening to break through. Fending off Emrakul's mental assault was not going to be of much help if her minions tore them to shreds instead.

The other Planeswalkers had regained consciousness a moment after Jace, staggered and disoriented. Jace funneled focus at his friends, clearing away the cobwebs of Emrakul's attack. _"Chandra, Gideon, Damion, Liliana's zombies need your help. We cannot let Emrakul's or the other Titans minions through."_ Gideon moved first, with a soldier's decisive speed. An image of Erebos's whip flashed through Jace's mind, but he shook it away. Damion got to his feet as well as the smaller version of the hydra from Zendikar, Damion and the hydra each let out a roar before charging the broods of Ulamog and Kozilek.

Chandra paused. _"I can...I can still try to burn her. I got this."_ Her hesitation vanished, replaced by a natural confidence Jace found both appealing and mystifying.

 _"She doesn't play at confidence. It just comes to her. Weird_ ," he thought to himself. Jace hesitated. Trying to burn Emrakul didn't feel right, didn't feel possible. But how could he be sure this wasn't just head games Emrakul was playing with him, with all of them? Emrakul had been in his mind. He had felt her power.

He cast his thoughts to the whole group, his spell of protection keeping their minds linked. _"No, Chandra. Emrakul is too big. Too powerful. We can't beat her that way. I'm not sure she can be destroyed."_

 _"Jace is right. Trying to burn Emrakul is throwing a torch into the ocean. It will not work. Even if all the leylines were available. She is too...vast."_ Nissa's voice sounded odd, distant. She was weaving vines, shoots, and leaves into poultices to wrap around Liliana's wounds, keeping her alive. _"Emrakul was there, at my awakening. At the moment of my spark. Perhaps it is fitting she be there at the end."_

 _"Oh, wow, you do not get invited to many parties, huh?"_ Chandra's playful voice belied her words.

 _"I regain consciousness and we're talking about parties, there better be one hell of a cake after we're done with this!"_ Damion said as he and his pet fought the Eldrazi.

 _"Enough doom talk. More how-we-win-this talk, please. I'm gonna go burn things."_ Chandra ran to the outer ring of the zombie horde, her flames beating back crazed cultists.

 _"Jace. Remember what Avacyn said."_ Tamiyo's voice, a light breeze on a sunlit shore.

An echo chimed in his head, a mad angel saying her last words to her creator. _"What cannot be destroyed must be bound."_

 _"Jace, that is the answer. That is what we must do. We cannot destroy Emrakul or the other Titans. We must bind them."_ Tamiyo's voice was insistent, clear. The Gatewatch had faced this same crux back on Zendikar, and there they had chosen destruction, and look how well that turned out. But that was not a choice on Innistrad. Emrakul was beyond their powers and they didn't have the strength to destroy the other two. The only destruction in question was their own—along with everyone else on Innistrad.

 _"How? Binding her may not be any more possible than destroying her. What prison could possibly hold her?"_

 _"The same prison that held all of Innistrad's horrors for hundreds of years."_

 _"The Helvault?"_ Jace was confused. _"Wasn't that destroyed?"_

 _"Not the Helvault,"_ Tamiyo responded. _"Where the Helvault came from. The moon. A silver moon. I have a binding spell. A powerful one. I can attune it to the moon. But it needs to be linked to Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek..."_

Jace's mind raced. They could do it. Jace was confident he could attach Tamiyo's spell to the Titans. But they would need power, fuel for the spell. _"Nissa_..."

Nissa had been silent as she continued infusing her mana into the poultices wrapping Liliana. Liliana was breathing evenly, though still unconscious. Jace felt a warm surge of gratitude toward Nissa, but now he needed more from her. Far more. _"Can you power the spell?"_

Nissa's voice was cool, serene. _"No. There are so few leylines here I can touch. So few I_ want _to touch."_ Jace paused, uncertain of what to say next or how to help her. _"But I owe you, Jace Beleren. I will try."_

 _"Owe me?"_

 _"My mind was not my own. I was trapped in a darkness brought by her rising. I was subsumed by her, far too easily. It was not...pleasant. You rescued me from that horror. You have a gift for making difficult things so very easy. I will do what I can."_

Jace sputtered. _"Um, thank you...it wasn't really me, I mean, I cast the spell, but I wasn't really thinking at the time, and I actually probably made it a bit worse because I didn't..."_

 _"Thank you" suffices, Jace. You also have a gift for making easy things so very hard. I am ready."_

Jace didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. _"Tamiyo, are you ready?"_

Tamiyo had pulled out a scroll. Another memory flashed through Jace's mind. _The angel took out a long scroll, a scroll with iron bands._ That was where he had seen Tamiyo's scroll, in his mental conversation with Emeria. But the scroll Tamiyo had chosen did not have iron bands on it.

Jace had no more time to ponder the mystery. The space around them was shrinking. Gideon and Chandra were each holding off Emrakul's minions by themselves, thankfully the other Titans spawn were being held back by Damion, but they couldn't be everywhere at once, and the zombies were close to being overrun. It was time.

 _"I am ready_ ," Tamiyo confirmed. She began reading her scroll. Jace couldn't focus on the words, he was lost in the details of attaching Tamiyo's spell to the Titans, two of which were moments away from arriving, using the knowledge gleaned from Ugin and his own hedron manipulations back on Zendikar. A glyph flashed onto the moon, incised lines glowing bright against the silvery reflection. He had to fasten that glyph onto Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek, as well as the presence of the Titans.

But the spell demanded power. Streams, _torrents_ , of power. Nissa strained against the earth, her eyes a bright glowing green as she wove the polluted fragments of mana left on Innistrad into something Jace could use. Jace could feel her draining the leylines, looking for every last bit of energy. It was not enough. It was not going to be enough. Nissa stumbled to the ground, her arms flailing.

They were going to lose the spell.

As Jace struggled to keep the spell going, he lost mental contact with Tamiyo. Where she had been in his mind, there was now just a cloud, a dark gray fog he could not penetrate. Tamiyo pulled out another scroll, _a long scroll, a scroll with iron bands_ , and began reading a second spell. The Glyph on the moon dimmed slightly as the ground beneath Damion lit up as purple markings appeared on his body.

Energy flowed into Jace. He was in a wide river of mana, more magic, more energy than he had ever felt before. It felt wonderful. He took the magic, shaped it, each point on the glyph attaching itself to a node on Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek that Jace created on the fly. Jace unleashed the full power of the spell.

Light erupted from the moon.

A cold, silver beam struck the Titans from on high.

It bathed the creatures, enveloped them...and the creatures _stretched_. Toward the light, toward the moon.

The distortion was physically impossible. Before Jace's eyes the shape of the Titans arced through the light to the moon, stretching, stretching, and then... _snapping_.

Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek folded, collapsed. They crumbled like a thin parchment sprinkled with glass, compacting to nothingness in a way no creature their size should. Or _could_. Tamiyo however wasn't done reading the scroll, in the blink of an eye the light of the moon shot towards Damion, a large purple orb entered his body as the markings on his body lit up.

After a moment the light winked out. The Titans were gone. They had won.

The silver face of the moon glowered with the triangular patterns of the glyph. Branded. Scarred. Sealed.

For a moment, the only sound was the stirring of dry leaves in the wind. Next to Jace were Damion and Tamiyo, Damion was looking at the purple line tattoos all over his skin, "What the fu-" He was cut off when Tamiyo dropped to her knees and vomited.

* * *

Liliana felt exultant. She had known delight many times before. The day she had regained her youth. When she killed the demon lords Kothophed and Griselbrand, hearing their death screams. Each of those moments had felt like cheating; the best kind of cheating, where you get away with it and still win at the end.

But this moment was even sweeter. Perhaps it was because she had truly known she was going to die. Perhaps it was because she had so rashly taken on Emrakul in her pride and thirst for control, and yet none of them would be alive had she not done so. Perhaps it was because there was no more Emrakul. Its taint, its _taste_ , was gone from Innistrad, and everything was better in its absence.

Just thinking of Emrakul made her shiver. She had been so close to death. Or worse. She stared at the moon. _"May you rot there forever. Know the consequence of opposing Liliana Vess."_

The assorted Planeswalkers had gathered at the close of a very long day. After the battle with the Titans was won, there were still fires to put out, eyes to close, grief to console, wounds to heal...or not, in the case of much of the trauma. Liliana didn't much care. Every time she pushed the limits of the Chain Veil she felt empty afterward, as if a part of her was missing. It had happened so many times now she was not even sure she could identify what was absent anymore.

Besides, it didn't matter. She had had her fill of good deeds for quite some time. _"None of you would be alive if not for me. You're lucky I don't demand payment for my rescue of this world."_ Well, she would demand payment, but not now and not from anyone on Innistrad.

It was remarkable what imaginary obligations and loyalty made people do. Take the Gatewatch. They owed each other nothing. Literally nothing. And yet here they stood, fighting for each other, willing to die for each other. Liliana was used to the effect of such relationships; she depended on them, as long as they were with her zombies. That was a reliable power dynamic. But Innistrad had shown the limitations of her approach. Zombies were great servants, but there were certain tasks they couldn't accomplish. And fighting alone was wonderful...until it wasn't. When you weren't prepared for the unlikely, and there was no one to save you from the untimely.

Once upon a time recently she had thought to leverage the emotions Jace had for her. Or had had, if she must admit. _"_ _He is just a boy. A boy, and I should know better."_ Jace had proven reliably unreliable, his recent success notwithstanding. _"_ _What were you doing with your spell while I kept you alive? Trying to think Emrakul to death?"_ While she acknowledged whatever he had done had worked, it did not dramatically improve her opinion of him. _"_ _A boy. I should be done with you."_

But here was an opportunity far beyond Jace and his limitations. Here was a _group_. A group of _friends_. Today was a revelation, a revelation of the power of friends. Manipulated correctly, friends were like better zombies. Helping you and saving your life because they _wanted_ to, not because they had to.

What more could she do, with powerful friends like these? What more could she conquer, what more could she obtain? She smiled at the thought of it. They would not obey her direct orders, but did it matter? Jace wasn't the only child compared to her. They were all children. None of them had her centuries of experience, none of them had tasted the power she had, either before or now, none of them were as ruthless or focused as she was...well, aside from the actual child who was absent at the moment.

She didn't know where the Raven Man was. There was no sign of him inside her head or out. The Chain Veil was subdued. Today had been an extremely painful lesson in how unreliable a weapon it was. _"_ _But when I have my own Gatewatch to heal me after every use._.." a thought for later. But she liked the sound of that. " _My very own Gatewatch."_

Gideon had been rambling on and on to Tamiyo. The moonfolk looked sick, and Liliana could hardly blame her. Gideon was nice enough to look at, but she had known zombies who were smarter. Gideon was babbling something about the Gatewatch, and how they were just starting up their do-gooding, and wouldn't Tamiyo like to be a do-gooder too? Tamiyo shook her head, excusing herself, her eyes wide and frightened. It figured that a mind mage would be too fragile. Like Jace, useless.

Jace was looking at her, that puppy-dog look in his eye still. _"At least make up your mind, child!"_ She bit down on her irritation. She needed him and his puppy ways here.

"Gideon." Jace's voice was tentative, slight. They talked quietly amongst themselves, and Liliana made sure to show no hint of the smile she felt. _"Yes, cloak boy, bumble your hesitant way toward your sincere desire to help me."_ It was clear Gideon was not happy about it, though. Though Liliana was not sure Gideon was ever happy about anything. _"You should at least delight in your youth and attractiveness while you still have it. Why are children so dumb?"_

Eventually the eye-candy approached. There were more do-gooder words about do-gooding, but Liliana was too focused on the oath to pay close attention. She had thought extensively about the right approach to the oath. Too sincere, too sugary, and suspicions would be raised—suspicions that would make her next steps harder. But too cynical, too revealing, and those suspicions would instead be confirmed. She needed a delicate touch, a hint of cynicism but with her heart clearly in the right place.

When Gideon asked her for her oath, she was ready

"I see that together we're more powerful than we are alone. If that means I can do what needs to be done without relying on the Chain Veil, then I'll keep watch. Happy now?"

She said it with a touch of a smile, but just a touch. Besides, her pleasure was genuine. The best lies always contained enough truth to slide through.

She was now a member of the Gatewatch. Futures unfolded in her mind, full of promise and ambition.

* * *

 **Jace**

Jace was exhausted. It had been the longest day of his life, and all he wanted was to sleep; a sleep free of dreams or any thinking whatsoever.

But there was someone he had to talk to first.

He found her and Damion in the far outskirts of Thraben, sitting in the ruins of a small church. There were few buildings in Thraben left standing, and this church had not been spared.

She just sat there, her legs crossed over one another, her eyes closed. Damion was sitting on a large rock across from her, Jace felt weird interrupting such a private moment. But he had to know.

"Tamiyo...? Are you...can I...?" Jace didn't know how to ask his question. Tamiyo opened her eyes, her face still full of the sickness and dread she had displayed ever since they finished casting the spell.

"What happened out there, Tamiyo? You were there, mind-linked with me, and then you...weren't. You vanished. What happened to you?"

Tamiyo sat there and began crying. Tears dropped from her eyes, one after another. _Plip-plip_ , as they hit on the stone rubble beneath.

Her words came out staggered, halting. "Nissa had fallen. The spell was in danger of collapsing. I didn't know what to do, how to help."

Jace was surprised. "So Nissa generated that power by herself? Impressive. I had thought it was you, with the second scroll."

Tamiyo looked at him, sadness and scorn both in her eyes. "No. You don't understand. It was me. With the second scroll. That's where the energy came from."

"But that's wonderful! You saved us! You saved all of Innistrad, all of...everything! Is it because it was one of the iron scrolls? One of the scrolls you didn't want to open?"

"Just shut up, Jace! Listen, just listen. It wasn't _me_. It...she...took me over." Damion tensed up and covered himself in his wings. "Do you understand? It was not _me_! I was there, in my own body, helpless as she came in and took over. My eyes, my hands, my voice...she took them all over. They were not mine." Her cries became full sobs.

A voice came back to him, her voice as he had watched his chess pieces stab and kill each other. _They are all my pieces, Jace Beleren. They always were. I just no longer want to play._

"I...I am sorry, Tamiyo. I don't know..."

"But that wasn't the worst part. The scroll I opened. The second one. You were right. I shouldn't have opened it. A promise made long ago, which one day I'll have to answer for. But the spell she read...it wasn't the original spell. The scroll she used, it cast...a different spell."

Emeria. _From somewhere a long stylus appeared, and she began writing in the scroll._ Jace began shaking.

"It was changed. How did she do that? How could she do that?" Tamiyo's voice was near panic. "As this monster took over my body and read a scroll, a scroll that should have brought devastation to everything on this plane...instead it fueled a spell that trapped herself in a vessel aside from the moon." Jaces eyes widen as he looks at Damion and the glowing tattoos on his wings. "How did that happen, Jace? Why did it happen? What did we just do?"

"I...I don't know." Jace had no more words for her. None for himself.

Tamiyo took a deep breath. "I told you before, Jace. Sometimes our stories have to end. Yet here we are, each seeking to prolong our story, no matter the cost. But what if all stories are just _her_ story, all in service of some awful destiny waiting to unfold?" Tamiyo looked up at the moon before looking at Damion.

"Did we really win?" Tamiyo's voice was no longer fearful, but plaintive. Jace had no answer. Eventually she rose and flew into the dark sky. There were no parting words.

Jace sat for a longer time still. He looked again at the moon in its silver luminescence, the glyph still brightly inscribed on its surface, a testament to what the Gatewatch had achieved. In that moon's depths were two of the most powerful and destructive force any of them had ever encountered. The final one now inhabiting the young half demon in front of him. The angel's words stabbed in his head, daggers from a destiny unrealized. " _This is all wrong. I am incomplete, unfulfilled, inchoate. There should be blossoms, not barren resentment. The soil was not receptive_. _It is not my time. Not yet."_

His spine was cold. " _It is not my time. Not yet."_ He dropped his gaze from the moon, and looked at the wrapped up Damion. "Damion?"

The young hybrid slowly unwrapped his wings and looked at Jace, "Just before you and the other sealed the Titans away, my mother redirected herself to be imprisoned inside of me. She is asleep right now though."

Jace scratched the back of his head, he walked up to Damion and placed a hand on his shoulder, "We can worry about that tomorrow, right now I think we've all deserved some well earned rest." Damion smiled and nodded before Jace went in search of a safe bed to find temporary oblivion.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _Six Planeswalkers allied as the Gatewatch. From Kaladesh, the pyromancer Chandra Nalaar. From Theros, the hieromancer Gideon Jura. From Zendikar, the elven animist Nissa Revane. From someplace he no longer remembers, the telepath Jace Beleren. From Dominaria, the necromancer Liliana Vess. From the destroyed world of Korit, the eldrazi demon Damion. With the aid of Tamiyo, a soratami scholar of Kamigawa, they defeated the eldrazi titans Emrakul, Ulamog, and Kozilek, sealing two of the entities within Innistrad's silver moon, and the remaining one inside of Damion._

* * *

Once the Gatewatch arrived at Jaces home, the Planeswalkers had agreed that they all earned some R&R, although Liliana had decided to get her own place. Damion however was having a bit of trouble sleeping. Damion was in his room, asleep on a large hammock Jace had set up for him since he didn't like regular beds. He had a pained expression on his face and he was taking deep breaths, his chest was pulsing with a grey light. His demonic features appeared as the light grew brighter and brighter.

 **Damion pov**

My eyes slowly open as a splitting headache racks my mind. "Oh, my head." I say in a pain, "What happened."

My heart nearly stops when I hear a voice I hoped to never hear again. "Damion." Her voice dripped with that tone that sent shivers up my spine and I wanted to be anywhere else but here right now. I fully open my eyes and see an arm was an inch left of my head, pale skin, black sleeve, voice that makes me feel strange. I follow the arm and look uo to see a familiar face, she had her arms on either side of my head and she had a smile that made me shiver. "Did you miss me?"

"A-Avacyn!?" I say in shock. How was she here!? And why does she seem...smaller? Now that I look at her, she looked like a younger version of herself, almost around physically my age.

"You remember me!" She said happily. "You don't know...how happy that makes me."

I had to think fast, I had to get away from this psychopath angel! Right. Fucking. Now! I move my hands under my back and use my claws to rip the hammock and fall through. Avacyne was surprised and I used that moment to unfold my wings and fly towards the door. I bolt through the door and slam it shut behind me, I quickly put several large pieces of furniture in front of the door. Once I put the last piece on I bolted down the hall as fast as I could, "Gotta find Jace, or Chandra, Gideon, Liliana, hell I'd even take-" ***THUD*** I was cut off when I ran into someone, I pick myself up and see who I ran into. "Nissa!" I shout with joy.

"Ugh, why did you-" She stopped when I got onto my knees and put my hands together.

"Please for the love of everything in creation please help me!" I beg making Nissa blink a few times.

"W-What?" She asked sounding very confused.

Before I could respond there was a loud crash from down the hall, "Oh no."

"What is-"

I don't let her finish before I run behind her, "Don't let her get me!" I beg, Nissa looked down the hall and her eyes widen once she saw Avacyn running towards us. Nissa seemed to be able to tell she was bad news and held her staff out in front of her. Parts of the ground broke apart as roots grew from the stone and soon became a bipedal elemental that charged the insane angel. The elemental raised its fist to hit the angel but Avacyn tackled the beast head on causing it to fall onto its back, she ripped root and stone from the elemental before her body started to glow slightly.

Without thinking I wrap my arms around Nissa and spread my wings around her as well, not a moment later I felt the familiar burning sensation of her holy light start to burn my skin. I saw Nissa look at me as I tried to ignore the pain, she raised her staff again before the light stopped, I opened my wings and saw Avacyne was now fighting against three more elementals, using what strength I had left I lifted Nissa and myself up and out a large window. I break through the glass, which unfortunately due to the holy light weakening me caused glass shards to embed themselves in my wings. I grit my teeth in pain before I crash into the ground.

Nissa had fallen out of my grasp and I was laying on my back unpin, my vision was blurry and I was taking deep breaths, my wings and body hurt like hell.

"Damion!" Nissa called out, a moment later she appeared in my vision. She got me to my feet and held me up as my vision cleared again. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"I won't be able to use my wings for a while, but I can manage for now, we need to find the others." I reply. No sooner had I said that, Gideon, Chandra, and Jace, run around the corner and were shocked when they saw us. "Oh good, we found them."

"What's going on!?" Gideon asked noticing the destroyed window and the damage on the ground as well as my injuries.

"In short." A loud crash could be heard from inside. "A crazy angel from Innistrad that I thought was dead somehow isn't dead and followed me here and also has some strange obsession with me, is currently fighting 3 elementals and is heading this way." I inform them. "Oh and for some crazy reason she looks my age now."

"What!?" Jace asked in horror knowing exactly who I was talking about.

The wall behind Nissa and I flew past us and crashed into the opposite wall, we turn and see Avacyn with her insane grin on her face as she crushed what remained of the last elemental, "There you are!" She said happily looking at me.

"I'm going to die." I state.

"Not today!" Chandra let loose a wave of fire at the arc angel who held her hand out causing the fire to split in half right in front of her. She waved her hand causing the fire to disappear before leaping towards me and Nissa, Gideon pushed us out of the way as he lit up with a golden energy. Avacyn materialized a black version of her spear and tried to impale Gideon but it harmlessly bounced off. Gideon summons his whip like weapon as Jace and Chandra run over to us, Avacyn saw this and raised her spear which lit up again.

I Jace and I knew what this was, I quickly shifted to my eldrazi form, but something felt different. I ignored it as I unfolded my wings, since I was in my eldrazi form I could mutate them, my wings grew and wrapped around the four of us as the light hit. I knew Gideon would be fine so I only shielded the others, the light hit me again and my flesh burned like hell, I wanted to scream at the searing pain but I had to focus on keeping my wings up.

The light dies down again and my wings return to normal as I fall to the ground, my mask falls off, my eldrazi form goes back to normal as I fall to the ground. Thankfully I was caught by, surprisingly, Nissa. Jace and Chandra went to go help Gideon and I was left with Nissa. As I watched the others fight I started to think, how did Avacyn get here? I watched her get destroyed. Okay think, the last moments you saw her, what happened? I thought back to when I fought her, Sorin had me bind her in chains to use the spell, wait a second, I channeled my mana into the chains. Usually when I do that...oh no, no please tell me I didn't actually do what I think I did.

 _"So you finally figured it out I see."_ Said a familiar female voice inside my mind.

 _"Mom!"_ I mentally shout back, _"Okay first, I'm really glad you are here right now, second, why did you imprison yourself inside of me!?"_

 _"I didn't want to be stuck in that dusty old moon for a who knows how long."_ She replied. _"So do you like my gift?"_

 _"Your gift is trying to kill me!"_

 _"Don't be ridiculous, she may be insane but I made sure that she only wants to protect you. The injuries are because my insanity still has a hold on her mind. I know you can dispel it, I was just waiting for you to realize how she got here."_ I could tell she was smiling.

I let out a sigh before I look up at Nissa, "I know what to do." I quickly explain my plan and Nissa nods, by the eternities I hope this works.

 **No pov**

Avacyn spun her spear sending the fire away from her again and avoided the strikes from Gideons whip. Multiple blue illusions appeared around her to confuse her but she sliced through them like nothing. She grabbed Chandra by the neck and raised her spear but stopped when she heard Nissa shout.

"Stop!" Avacyn turned to look in her direction and her expression turned to one of shock, Damion was being restrained by several roots and Nissa was holding a sword to his neck. "Make any sudden moves and he dies." Nissa threatened.

The rest of the Gatewatch were shocked. "Nissa what are you doing!?" Gideon shouted.

Jace could tell something was up, he knew Damion could easily break through the roots if he wanted to, his eyes lit up and read their minds. Damions plan might just work, he quickly sent a mental message to the others about what was going on.

"Drop her." Nissa ordered the arc angel. Avacyn grit her teeth and released Chandra who fell to the ground coughing and cussing at the angel. Chandra quickly got away from her and moved next to Nissa, "Now!" She pointed her sword at Avacyn as dozens of roots ripped up from the ground and wrapped around the angels wings and her body, Gideon then tackled her to the ground and wrapped her in his own chains. Jace used his magic to make Avacyn freeze and unable to retaliate, the roots around Damion unwrapped and Damion raced forwards before putting a hand on the angels head. A purple vail of energy covered the angel and disappeared, the purple markings on Damion appeared as he channeled his magic into Avacyn.

The Gatewatch stayed on edge just in case the crazy angel broke free, after a few minutes Damion let out a sigh and stopped his spell. "That should do it." He says and falls onto his back. The others slowly released Avacyn from their restraints and waited, once the young angel started to stir she sat up and yawned before looking around. Damion sat back up, the two looked each other in the eyes for a moment. Damions got to his feet and dusting himself off, "So, have you calmed down?"

Avacyn looked up at Damion and took his hand to help her stand back up. "Y-yes, I'm-" Once she was on her feet she lost her balance and fell onto Damion knocking them to the ground. The rest of the Gatewatch moved forwards thinking she was attacking but stopped when they saw Damion and Avacyn had both fallen asleep, most likely due to the running, fighting, and use of their magic.

"Well, this will certainly be interesting." Jace said before making sure Damion was alright. Once he was sure, he moved Damion and Avacyn into Damions room, hoping that things wouldn't get to crazy.

* * *

 **Three months later**

Things have been calm since Innistrad, and the little Avacyn problem. After Jace offered his place for the Gatewatch to stay most of them agreed. Liliana had decided to get her own place and Nissa left her room after the first day. After the first week Damion had had taken claim of three rooms and the three above him by knocking down walls and parts of his ceiling to get to them. The reason being that the angels he had accidentally made part of his brood had appeared and needed room to move around, thankfully they stayed in their angel forms and not their eldrazi form, unless they need to. The young arc angel had also gotten use to her new form and could be seen with Damion on multiple occasions causing mischief.

The young demon often sneaks out with Chandra and both explore the city, the two cause trouble at times. Aside from Chandra, Damion had gotten along with Liliana surprising some of the other Planeswalkers, they both claim it's because they are capable of creating armies if they wanted to. That and they were both immortal and all powerful at one point. He got along with Gideon and they spared on occasion. Jace and Damion got along pretty well, they often play chess. Nissa and Damion tried to get along, but they barely talked to each other, so Gideon stuck them in a room till they had an actual conversation. No one knows what happened exactly but there were several loud bangs, shattering glass, and shouting. But once they came out they seemed to be on better terms than before.

Since then things have been pretty quite, well, until now.

* * *

Liliana knocked on the door to Damions room, but got no response. She knocked again, louder.

"Just a moment." Said a female voice Liliana didn't recognize. She was certain this was the room belonging to Damion. A moment later the door opened to reveal a black winged angel, she couldn't remember her name, not that she wanted to. "Oh, it's you. Damion said I could let you on but don't do anything funny." She warned before moving to let Liliana in.

Liliana walked through the door and looked around, Damion was in his hammock near the ceiling, the ceiling was also covered in purple, grey, or white drawing similar to Eldrazi. What appeared to be several bags of varied size hung around him, it was impossible to see what was inside them. His miniature hydra, no bigger than a small dog, was curled up on his chest. Liliana looked up and saw that more than half the ceiling was ripped out and various angels were on the second floor watching her.

Various angels were watching her to make sure she didn't do anything to Damion. A certain young arc angel was watching her as well, when Liliana was told that this was Avacyn she laughed for a good five minutes straight. The once proud arc angel that had been a major annoyance on Innistrad was now nothing more than a child.

She walked closer to the hammock before noticing the his clothes were covered in black ash, Damion looked at her rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Good morning purple lady." Damion said with a yawn.

Liliana had given up on trying to get him to stop calling her that. "Come child, we have to go see what beafslab wants."

"Do I have to?" Damion asked rubbing his eyes and flying down to the ground.

"Yes, I'm going to get Chandra, get cleaned up and meet me there."

"You sound like my mother...or something else...what's anotherer family member?" Damion replied still tired.

"I would prefer you think of me as an older sister." She said with a smile.

"I've never had a sister before, okay then. I'll catch up in a minute." Liliana soon left as Damion got ready for the day. Once he was somewhat presentable in his eyes he whistled getting everyone else attention. Not a moment later the Angels and hydra currently present all turned into grey orbs and flew into his chest. Damion then left once he had everyone back inside him. He walked through the labyrinth of halls that belonged to Jace, following the sound of Lilianas voice till he walked up next to her.

"I trust the evening was worth it?" Liliana asked Chandra who had clearly just gotten out of bed herself. A breeze kicked through the hall, carrying the scents of sun-baked bricks and frying food, the susurration of crowds and the tinkling of bands in the square below. A strand of wayward orange hair wavered in the summer wind and fell across Chandra's eye. Liliana reached out and tucked it behind the girl's ear, tsking. It was dry as straw, the ends split. To be expected, perhaps, given its tendency to burst into flame.

"Stop that," Chandra said, waving away her hands. "I wasn't doing anything last night. Just went to watch..." she hesitated, amber eyes squinting off into the gloom of her bedroom. "Uh, some minstrels. Yeah. A tavern in—on Tin Street. They had, like...fiddles."

Liliana had met many terrible liars over the centuries, but impressively few could rival Chandra. She folded her arms across her chest and allowed one corner of her mouth to tilt upwards. "You two went to see the Izzet air races."

" _No!"_ She defended herself.

"Exploding goblins were awesome." Damion mumbled out leaning against the wall. Liliana smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"...Yes." Chandra yawned. "So you gonna yell at me, or what?"

She laughed lightly. "Why on earth should I? Do what you want." She waved over her shoulder, the gesture encompassing the sun-baked hall, the quiet, book-stacked rooms of Jace's sanctum, and the preposterous band of freelance do-gooders she'd found herself walking two steps behind and shaking her head at. "Nobody here has a right to tell you what to do. That's certainly not what _I_ signed up for."

"You didn't _sign_ anything."

Damion looked up, "We had to sign something!?" Damion asked in concern.

"No, don't worry little one." Damions eyes slowly closed before falling back against the wall. Lilianna looked back at Chandra "Never do, sweetie. Best to live unfettered." She tapped a finger against her lips. "Air races are dangerous for most. But after Emrakul, the perils of goblins with rockets strapped to their backs seems distinctly...non-perilous for you."

"Mom has that effect on people." Damion added.

"One of them had rockets in his _boots_. But he blew up. _Boof!_ " Chandra's hands cupped and spread apart, describing an expanding cloud of yuck. "Chunks _everywhere_. _Super_ gross."

"Super awesome!" Damion mumbled.

"Charming. Did you enjoy your evening?"

The younger woman grinned, the freckles on her cheeks scrunching up into an adorable mess. " _Yeah!_ I love air races. I haven't seen once since—" her mouth hung a moment, and she blinked twice, rapidly. "Not for a while, anyways. Not big with the monks," she said, with an unconvincing laugh.

Liliana studied the fall of the noon sun across Chandra's hair, remembering the brittle feel of it between her fingers. "Beefslab wants everyone downstairs in an hour. We have a guest."

"Who?" Chandra asked.

"Do they have food?" Damion asked starting to actually wake up.

"I'm sure I didn't ask."

"What? No, I mean... _Beefslab?_ " Chandra clarified.

Liliana let the corner of her mouth slide up again, placed one hand on her hip, and waited for it.

"She means shiny man." Damion clarified.

" _Oh!_ " Chandra snorted a laugh. "Gids."

She waved pale fingers in the air and rolled her eyes, theatrically. "Surely you've thought the same? It feels like I have to ask him to put a shirt on every other day."

Chandra rubbed her left eye and yawned again. "Hey, I don't mind the view. I wanna get breakfast on the way. Lunch. Whatever. You coming with?"

She moved to brush past Liliana, who stopped her with a hand to her exposed shoulder. The skin was radiantly, unnaturally warm, as if she'd been lying in the sun. She'd noticed that on the rare occasions Chandra sat still for five minutes, her lap inevitably attracted a small pile of drowsy cats.

"Before we go downstairs, sweetie," she said, "you might wish to put on pants."

"What are you, my m—aunt?" Chandra grumped. She turned and wobbled toward one of the piles of laundry, toes curling up at the cold of the hardwood. That settled the question of which pile was the clean. Hopefully.

Liliana silvered a laugh into the air. "I'd rather you think of me as...a sibling, shall we say?"

Chandra pulled a pair of leggings out of the pile, sniffed, and tossed them over her shoulder with a grimace. "I don't have any siblings. Anyways, aren't you like two hundred or something?"

"Ah, but two hundred going on twenty-nine." Chandra closed the door leaving the two alone. "Did you have fun?" She asked the young demon.

Damion looked up at Liliana, "Yup, there the explosions were so cool to watch!" Damion ten started to explain what had occurred until Chandra walked out.

* * *

"Not wearing armor today?" Liliana asked as they walked to the stairs.

"Around the house? Nah. You think maybe I should for this meeting?" Chandra was looking down at the lacing of her shirt. She'd been trying to work out a knot, but only managed to get a thumb caught. "I left it downstairs, in that room Jace keeps all his cloaks." A puzzled frown bent her lips. "He's got an _awful_ lot of them. Hold on."

She paused by one of the open bedroom doors to work her thumb free. It was Nissa's room, theoretically. The curtains were pulled wide, letting noontime sun fall on undisturbed bedding and a dusty bureau. Chandra glanced in. "We've been here like three months, but I've barely seen Nissa since Innistrad."

"You won't find her in there. Let me see that." Liliana turned and batted Chandra's free hand away from her shirt's lacing. The other hand was now connected by the thumb and an additional finger. "The first morning you all were here, she stumbled out looking like death warmed over."

Chandra brightened and opened her mouth.

"Yes, yes," Liliana sighed. "I'd know best what that looks like."

"Aw..."

"Sweet girl, trust me. I _have_ heard all the necromancer jokes." Liliana sucked in her lower lip as she dug in her fingernail to tease a knot free. "Nissa mumbled something like, 'Can't sleep. Too many angels.' She's been staying in the roof garden ever since."

"It's pretty nice up there." Damion added. "And she was not referring to my angels."

"Weird." Chandra watched dust motes swirl in the air. "What about you?"

"What _about_ me?" Liliana pulled at another knot.

With her free hand, Chandra pushed her goggles further back on her forehead. "Jace offered you a room too. Right? Like the rest of us? But you went and got your own place, even when everything's so expensive here."

A final, firm tug, and Chandra's hand was free. "I mislike relying on the mercy of others," Liliana said, forcing lightness into her voice. It had the virtue of being true, if not the _entire_ truth. "Now let me tie this for you properly."

Sleeping under a roof that _Jace_ paid for? Not just "no," but "hell no."

"There." She patted the lacing on Chandra's shirt. "Don't touch it again. Next time you'll probably get a toe caught."

"Thanks," Chandra grinned, then wrapped one warm arm up around Liliana's bare shoulders and squeezed. "I'm so hungry I could eat an Eldrazi. Maybe even one of the gooey ones." Damion quickly moved to the other side of Lilianna who patted his head. Chandra launched herself toward the stairs. "They don't get breakfast on Ravnica at _all_. It's like they get it all _backwards_. Big dinners, long lunches, skipped breakfasts. Crusty bread with butter? For _breakfast?_ " Chandra made a lemon-pucker face. "Come the hell _on_."

"Is that why you can't get up in the morning here?" Liliana asked, mildly.

Chandra slugged her in the arm. " _Jerk_." She was taken so off guard she staggered. Chandra walked obliviously ahead as Liliana rubbed the potential bruise. Her steps quickened and Damion flew after them as she warmed to her topic and gestured to an audience only she could see. " _Listen_. A real breakfast starts with methi thepla. With ginger, chilis, and some yogurt in the mix. When you wake up to that smell—" she paused; swallowed; shook her head. "With pickled mango! Mango is the best. Anyone who says otherwise should be pitied for their tragic and inescapable wrongness."

Liliana shook her head. "I have no idea what mango is."

"I don't know what any of those things are." Damion said with a shrug, "Is yogurt a type of animal?

"A mango is a fruit and yogurt is not an animal." Chandra said before looking at Damion, "What do you eat?"

"Usually what ever I can find." Damion replied. "I do enjoy the taste of blood on occasion."

"Well, nothing else tastes like a mango in the multiverse. At least in the parts I've been. When it's perfectly ripe and you take a bite..." she cupped both hands under her mouth. "...the juice just runs down your chin. Sweet and tangy at the same time—and sharp in the back of your nose. Like the way juniper smells, a little. They're like a sunrise in your mouth. So big and bright it spills out."

"They sound confusing." Damion responded.

"They sound...messy," Liliana allowed.

"I guess. Sometimes. But _so_ worth it," Chandra grinned. "For the _second_ course, do you know what a chickpea— _oh_." They had turned into a hall that opened over a courtyard on one side, open to the sky and brimming over with green. Chandra's forward momentum trickled to a halt as she drifted toward the balustrade.

"We've got time for one more go before the meeting. Whenever you're ready." The booming voice of Gideon. "Let's do this!" An echoing clap of meaty hands.

She moved to stand beside Chandra. Below, Mancake settled into what was probably a Theros wrestling stance, braced as if expecting a blow. Across from him, the willowy Zendikari elf stood with one hand gripping her opposing shoulder, looking like she wanted to fold into herself and disappear.

"Are you sure?" she asked the grass. Her voice was uneven, scratchy with disuse.

His laugh echoed off the stonework. Liliana was fairly certain she heard distant glassware vibrating. "If I know it's coming, I'm indestructible. The whole point's to see how far _you_ can go. _Trust_ yourself, Nissa. And if you don't...trust _me_. I can absolutely take it."

"But..."

" _Indestructible,_ " he repeated cheerfully, flashing perfect teeth.

"All right." Nissa closed her pine-shadow eyes. "There's not much here to work with."

"We could do this in the garden."

"I meant...never mind." She breathed in, and raised a hand.

The bushes exploded into bloom. Lavender-and-white petals swirled on a sudden wind, filling the air with thick sweetness. Ivy shot up the walls, emerald leaves swelling and unfurling, coating every surface. The grass stretched and bent, whispering in the breeze, lovingly wrapping itself around Nissa's hiking boots.

Chandra took an involuntary step back, inhaling sharply as greenery embraced the balustrade.

Branches swelled and twined, weaving into a single four-legged shape. Maybe some Zendikari beast? Liliana had visited some decades before, but found the place too dull to stay long. The bushes pulled themselves free of the ground, flicking dirt from their root-feet like a fastidious cat.

The bush-beast—more a tree now—reared back, creaking and groaning like the world's largest rocking chair. It shed pastel petals in a constant rain, motes of pollen swirling in the noontime sun. Its front limbs interlaced into a single fist, which it drove down on Gideon like an avalanche.

His flesh shone with liquid gold.

Then he was driven down into the earth, up to his chest.

Nissa gasped. With a wave of her hand, the tree-beast jumped back away from him, landing with a reverberating impact that left Liliana clutching the ivy-clad railing for support. Somewhere in the house, she heard porcelain shatter. Several somewheres, actually.

Gideon laughed uproariously. "That was _incredible!_ " He braced his hands on either side of the crater, and with a grunt uprooted himself. He rolled up on to his feet and brushed black earth off his trousers, a grin lighting his face. "You can't hurt _me_ , but I didn't even _think_ about the floor."

The tree-beast keened at Nissa like a scolded puppy. "Shh," the elf whispered, bending to rest her forehead against the monster's wooden brow. "My fault, my fault."

"Nicely done," Gideon laid a massive hand on Nissa's thin shoulder. She twitched and inhaled sharply. The tree-beast swung toward him and shook itself, leaves rattling a feline hiss.

He stepped back, hands in the air. "Easy, big fella. Not attacking mom."

Nissa laid a stilling hand on the beast. "Thank you. Rest now." It dug its wooden fingers and toes into the earth, groaned, and settled back into mere topiary. Nissa stood alone again, the beast's last pale blossom petals tumbling down around her.

Gideon rubbed his prickly jaw. "Hope Jace is all right with us landscaping."

Liliana glanced at Chandra. She was up on her toes, leaning forward over the rail with a dazzled little smile. "Careful you don't fall off."

Chandra hopped back down, and stuck out her tongue. "Like I would. Come on, I'm hungry."

Liliana smiled and followed with Damion not far behind. Behind her, Gideon's voice echoed from the courtyard bricks. "Nissa, before you go. That thing I do, where I clap people on the shoulder? Does that make you uncomfortable?"

Liliana paused at the door, listening. If the elf responded, her words weren't audible.

"I'm sorry. I hadn't realized. I won't do it again." Liliana couldn't imagine his expression, but his tone dripped such brown-eyed-shaggy-dog sincerity her lips twitched with irritation.

"Thank you." Barely more than a whisper of wind on leaves.

"If anything makes you uncomfortable, let me know, all right? _Especially_ if it's me."

Liliana set her mouth in a hard line and followed after Chandra, boots clicking on the hardwood, silk hem swishing in her wake. If she listened to any more she might vomit. Of course the _elf_ gets apologies and promises. Two hundred years ago, _she'd_ had to learn to break fingers.

* * *

There were a dozen ways into Jace's library, not counting the hidden passages Lilianas shades had found. Three stories of overflowing floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, all in alphabetical order by author, and arranged by subject. After a few weeks, she'd started taking random books and placing them on other shelves. It would drive him _insane_ when he noticed.

The marble table at the center was normally covered with Jace's neatly squared stacks of notes. He'd moved that into a private office; the library had become a common room because the table was the only one in the house large enough to accommodate them all. He'd visibly twitched when they started taking meals there.

Today the table held only a pitcher of water and seven glasses. Jace was already here, of course, pacing, frowning, flipping through a bundle of notes, and trying to keep clear of Lavinia, who'd stationed herself by the exterior door and stared pragmatically into the middle distance. You could almost see checklists and formation marches lockstepping behind her eyes, taking up cycles while she waited for something important to happen.

Liliana had seen her sort a thousand times. Dutiful, observant, entirely unimaginative. If she had a favored tavern, which seemed unlikely, her usual was a mug of room-temperature water.

Lavinia was almost certainly standing by the door to keep Jace from bolting out on some adventure. Of course, if he really wanted to leave, he just needed to be alone for a few minutes. She knew that now; with five Planeswalkers living here, and one availing herself of the amenities, thank you very much, it had been necessary to explain. Jace had invoked some Guildpact bylaw of subsection of article as amended and ratified by who the hell cares to swear her to secrecy.

Liliana smiled to herself as she scraped a chair out from under the table, imagining the guard banging on the door of the privy; "Are you still in there, Guildpact? Respond at _once!_ "

Jace looked up at the noise of her chair. "You're early?" He sounded aghast. She was professionally affronted.

"No. Everyone else is later than me." She cast a critical eye up and down his form. Firm, fit, alert, hair combed. She mentally called bull on it. "You can drop the glamour, dear. No one cares."

He sighed, and shimmered as his illusion dropped. _There_ was the real Jace; paler, hair rumpled, eyes sunken from late nights, and his chin tinted by the adorable peach fuzz that almost counted as a someday-maybe beard.

"Vanity?" she said. "That's not like you."

He raked a hand back through his hair, which did nothing to calm its random angles. "I should be at my best for team meetings. Project leadership. Confidence. The idea that I know what the hell I'm doing. And why am I telling _you_ this?" He looked annoyed at himself.

She raised one ivory shoulder in a careless shrug. "Who else knows you well enough to understand?" Liliana leaned back in her chair and placed her feet up on the table, one ankle crossed over the other. The hem of her dress fell away from her boots in a rustle of silk.

"That's rude," Jace frowned.

"Mm."

His eyebrows collapsed into fuzzy perpendiculars of irritation. "And distracting."

Liliana favored him with a lazy, indolent smile. "I'll remember." She turned her attention to scanning the book spines nearby, and imagined his fuming.

Gideon thundered down the stairs, taking them two at a time as he yanked a shirt down over his various bulges, ripples, and throbbing bits. "Oh, good. You remembered today," she said.

He blinked at her. "What?"

"Nothing." She waved a careless half-salute in his direction. "Carry on, Sir General sir."

Jace set his notes down as Gideon pulled out the chair across from her. "That's nearly all of us, so I'll start. We can catch Chandra up when she gets here."

Liliana blinked and scanned the room. What about—oh. Nissa was sitting cross-legged in a chair under the shadow of the bookshelves, several steps removed from the table. She wondered how long the elf had been there. A scratching noise from above caught her attention, she looked up to see Damion was crawling on the ceiling, how long had he been there?

"The short of it is," Jace continued, "I'm still tied up with Guildpact work, and will be for a while. When I got back from Innistrad, my desk was covered. Actually, the whole office was a maze of stacked papers and books. It took me five minutes to _reach_ the desk."

A faint smile tugged the corner of Lavinia's mouth. Liliana revised her estimate of the woman's creativity upward.

Jace leaned on the table with the tips of his fingers. "I've put word out through—"

Bits of armor clattered and rang across the table. Jace glared up at Chandra. The pyromancer's arms swept up the pile of her spilled equipment. "Sowwy," she said around the pastry she held in her mouth. It dripped cinnamon icing on the marble. She collapsed in the chair beside Liliana, bit off a piece, and started strapping on pieces of armor. "Wha' wersh you shayin'?" she asked from the side of her mouth.

"I was saying," Jace said, with exaggerated patience, "that I've put word out through Tamiyo that the Gatewatch is ready to help. She and other Planeswalkers pass information to each other. They collect news and stories in their travels. The way bards work, but they carry word from other planes instead of the next town over."

"How many are they?" Gideon asked, resting his chin in one hand. "How often do they meet?"

Jace shook his head. "They're not organized like we are. It's informal. Practically gossip. But they move around often, and talk to many people. If someone wants help, they'll mention us. If someone needs help, they'll get word to us." He paused, and looked at each of them. "This has already borne fruit. Someone's sought us out. He's waiting outside."

Gideon grinned and sat straighter in his chair, which creaked at the shift in weight. "Outstanding work, Jace."

Jace nodded. "Our guest is Dovin Baan. He's Minister of Inspections for some kind of inventors' festival on Kaladesh." Warmth bloomed to Liliana's right. "Lavinia, could you see him in please?"

Minister. Hmm. Liliana took her feet off the table, sat up straight, and crossed her legs, brushing the folds of her dress into smoothness. A ripple passed over Jace; he'd re-summoned the neat and tidy illusion he'd been wearing when she entered.

Across the table from her, Gideon eyed their mutual preparations thoughtfully.

Chandra slumped further down in her chair, pulled her goggles down over her eyes, and folded her arms tight across her chest.

The vedalken man was tall, thin as dueling blade, blue-skinned, and impeccably dressed. His suit was partially encased in whorls and filigrees of brass, bits of which hissed and ticked faintly. He descended the stairs with brisk, precise motions, hands clasped behind his back, and Liliana wondered how he managed it. Surely the bits of metal covering his sleeves would get tangled?

He paused as he passed a painting, frowned, and reached out to nudge it upward on one side.

"Minister Baan," Jace said. "These are my colleagues Nissa, Gideon, Chandra, and Liliana. Damion is on the ceiling."

As she was introduced, Liliana unfolded from her chair and applied a pleasant smile. She curtseyed, keeping her eyes locked on Baan's as she bobbed. His were a fevered, restless fuchsia. A fascinating contrast from his cool demeanor. "Charmed, Minister." Her form was rusty, but she doubted he'd be familiar with the particulars of Dominarian court manners.

Baan laid an arm across his stomach and bowed to her from the waist, lowering his eyes to the floor before her. "Likewise, Miss Liliana."

"I hope your wait was comfortable?" Jace asked, indicating an empty chair at the far end of the table.

Baan glanced at it with momentary puzzlement, but made no move to sit. "The accommodations were tolerable."

Jace's projected face gave no hint of the discomfort Liliana's suspected lay beneath it. "Good. Well. What can the Gatewatch do for you?"

"I have come to inquire with regard to the matter discussed in my previous correspondence."

After a moment of silence, doubtless spent unpacking Baan's baroque grammar, Gideon cleared his throat. "Excuse us, Minister. Not everyone here has seen your letter."

Baan inhaled slowly. "Ah. Very well. I will recapitulate." Clasping his hands behind his back, he began to pace at the end of the table.

"I have the honor of coming before you as an officially and duly designated representative of the Consulate of Kaladesh. I have, of course, educated myself on the means of governance on Ravnica; your system of competing 'guilds.'" Baan pronounced the word with delicacy, as if it were some rare sweet he'd never encountered before. "Our Consulate stands in contrast. It is unified; centralized; meritocratic. All resources are administered and distributed by the rational and equal application of the law. We have achieved a society in which no one _wants_."

Liliana's right arm felt sunburned. She glanced at Chandra. A shimmer of heat-haze danced over the younger woman's head. Stray wisps of copper hair rose and wavered in the updraft. But she was silent, rigid, the muscles of her jaw rippling as she clenched her teeth.

Liliana quietly slid her chair to the left.

"Six months ago," Baan continued, "the Consulate scheduled an Inventors' Fair in the capital city of Ghirapur. It is to begin on the morning following. There are to be expositions of artifice in a variety of fields. Award of grants for exceptional work."

Baan allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up, ever so slightly. "It has been my pleasure to personally inspect all submissions for safety of visitors. If I may be forgiven for saying so, I believe the judges have many difficult choices to make. I am confident that at least one of our luminaries has managed to create an entirely new order of artifice."

He paused at the books stacked along the wall, and tapped the brass of his shoulder piece. An array of lenses whirred into place before his left eye. He peered through them for a moment, frowned, and drew one slim finger across the surface of the shelf.

"In recent weeks," he continued, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket as he turned on his heel, "preparations have been repeatedly disrupted by vandals and malcontents. My safety arrangements have thus far prevented any casualties." He wiped his finger with the handkerchief, carefully folded the cloth into quarters, and slid it back into a pocket. "However, efforts to discover and eliminate the source of this unrest have been less successful."

Baan's lens array ticked back into a storage position over his shoulder plate. "That is all."

Gideon cleared his throat. "So, to be clear, you want the Gatewatch to provide...security?"

"To root out the source of these attacks?" Jace suggested.

Baan looked from one to the other, and inhaled as if he'd smelled something from the bottom of a shoe. "Just so," he said. "As stated in my original correspondence."

"Who are these people?" Gideon asked. "Why do they want to disrupt a _festival_ _?_ "

Baan inclined his head. "A logical question, Mister Gideon. I regret there is no logical _answer_ for your query. The renegades' grievances largely exist in the fevered space between their own ears. The most significant objection they can muster is that equal distribution to all by the Consulate is somehow 'unfair' to them personally. Put simply, they feel they are entitled to more than their fair share. When the Consulate declines to indulge their selfish desires, they resort to sabotage of government property and theft of resources appropriated for the common good."

Chandra's chair tilted over backward as she bolted to her feet. Liliana snapped out an arm and kept it from clattering to the floor as she stomped away, trailing heat-blurred air and sparks.

"What are you—?" Gideon began, but flinched away from Chandra's flickering hands as she passed him. She vaulted up the stairs two at a time, snarling eye-watering obscenities.

Baan's eyes followed her, his eyebrows arching skyward. "I trust she is aware that is not anatomically possible?"

Jace cleared his throat, too loudly. "Minister Baan?" The vedalken turned back to the table as the massive library doors slammed shut. "Are any of your renegades _Planeswalkers?_ "

"Not to my knowledge."

Gideon shook his head, "Then I don't see how we can help. I'm sorry, but—"

"Wait." Jace leaned forward. "He said he doesn't _know_. We can prove one way or the other." He looks up towards the ceiling, "Damion is able to sense Planeswalkers thanks his new powers, we can send him to the Kaladesh to confirm this if necessary." Damion flew down from the ceiling and landed before taking a seat.

Baan closed his fever-bright eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between thin fingers. "Gentlemen, forgive my presumption. Which of you is making decisions for this group?"

Jace and Gideon looked at each other.

"Well..."

"Uh..."

"Gideon is the battlefield commander..."

"Jace is the administrator..."

"But we both..."

"But neither of us..."

Baan was clutching his head as if he had a migraine.

"Minister Baan," Liliana interrupted. She rose in an ostentatious swish of silk and lace, and affected her most disarming smile. "What troubles my...colleagues is the focus of our group. The Gatewatch was formed to stop people like us—Planeswalkers—from interfering with others. Problems from _without_ , in other words. It sounds like your problems come from _within_. In which case," she gestured with feigned helplessness, "our hands are tied. However we can still send Damion to confirm this, and if he finds anything we will not hesitate to come and help."

Baan released a slow, relieved breath. "Ah. Thank you, Miss Liliana. Your position is abundantly clear to me to now. I did not fully comprehend the strictures you operate under. Of course I cannot expect you to violate the laws that bind your organization." He bowed to her again. "My sincerest apologies. In the future I will endeavor to be more thorough in my research. If you will permit me, I shall take my leave with Master Damion." He glanced at Damion who understood they were about to leave so he stood up and walked over to Baan.

Jace stared at Liliana open-mouthed, annoyance and astonishment warring across his face. _Priceless_.

"Uh, hold on," Gideon jumped to his feet. "Minister, you should at least stay for dinner."

Baan looked at him as if he'd grown several additional heads. "Mister Gideon, even if I considered it acceptable to further impose upon your hospitality, I am sorely needed on Kaladesh. I have no doubt that since I departed, there have been several acts of sabotage."

Gideon grinned at Baan. "Planeswalks can be taxing, and you've already done one today. We couldn't let you go on an empty stomach. Rules of hospitality, let's say. While we get that made, I could give you a tour of Jace's hou—of our headquarters."

Baan stared down his nose at him. "I assure you, my fitness is within acceptable boundaries for one of my age and profession, though I do not believe the matter to be any of your concern. Still. If it is your custom to provide sustenance to a departing guest, I will respect it."

"Outstanding!" He moved to clap the Minister on the shoulder, but stopped himself and disguised the instinct as an awkward stretch.

Lavinia cleared her throat. "Guildpact. Before your associates leave. The other business?"

Gideon paused. "Other business?"

Jace grimaced. "While I was away on Zendikar and Innistrad, a few influential members in the Azorius Senate were...eliminated."

"Certainly a concern," Gideon said. "But what does that have to—"

"You said 'eliminated,'" Liliana interjected. "Not 'killed.'"

Jace nodded. "They were _petrified_. Turned to stone." He hesitated. Liliana raised her brows. Jace speechless? How intriguing. "About a year ago, there was a gorgon assassin operating on Ravnica. A _planeswalking_ gorgon, with a grudge against the Azorius. I stopped her, but...irritated her."

"You have such a way with ladies," Liliana said.

"The point is," Jace said, "she swore she'd be back someday."

Gideon rubbed his jaw, eyes flickering to Lavinia. "Huh. Any leads?"

"Not yet," Lavinia said.

Jace turned to Gideon. "I'd like you to investigate this."

He shook his head. "You're the best choice, Jace. Look into it and report back to me."

Liliana's eyes flickered from one to the other. _So_ glad she had her own place. Though if things ever came to a group vote, this made it easier to tilt things in whatever direction she wished.

"You have _no_ idea how much I'd like to handle this myself," Jace said. There was a faint creak of leather as Lavinia's gloved hand tightened on her scabbard. "I have _paperwork_." He spat it like an obscenity. "Gideon, I'm not going to...it's not an _order_ , all right? It's just something that needs to be done. I can't do it myself, and I think you'd work well with the Azorius. Better than Liliana would, at any rate."

"Oh, he's right about that," Liliana said, mildly. She was fairly certain they would still have her wanted posters up from four years ago, when she and Jace had worked for Tezzeret's criminal Consortium. Odd to consider how much had changed since then. Now Jace was the one the Azorius appealed to for aid, and she was more powerful than the guild could possibly deal with.

She laid a hand over the hidden pocket where she kept the Chain Veil. Not that she needed to assure herself of its presence. She could feel the icy sprawl of it against her thigh, and when her concentration lapsed, the whispers of the Onakke spirits possessing it rasped from the darker corners of the room.

"That makes sense," Gideon said, nodding slowly. "All right. Lavinia, I'd like a summary of what the Azorius know."

The guard looked scandalized. "A _summary?_ Captain Jura, the witness statements alone total several thousand—"

"I'm new here." He gave her an easy smile. "I need to rely on your expertise. I know it's a lot to ask, but could you get something for me by tonight? Even a little would be great."

Lavinia flustered under his gaze. "Absolutely, sir."

"Thank you, Lavinia," Gideon gestured to Baan, and moved toward the door on the far end of the room. "Jace's kitchen staff is incredible. Perk of being Guildpact, apparently. What's your interest?"

Jace dropped his illusion of calm and glared into Liliana's smile.

"I am content with a loaf of unleavened bread, a thin cut of meat, and water."

A booming laugh. "We can do better than that!" They turned down a hallway.

Damion had a curious expression on his face before flying out of a nearby window and made his way to the roof. Waiting for the time he had to leave for Kaladesh.

Lavinia tromped off, making notes on a small pad.

They were alone again.

Liliana placed herself between the table and the door to Jace's office as he gathered his paperwork. He scowled to see her waiting, lowered his chin, and marched past her looking into the distance. She smiled benignly. _Magnanimously_. "In the future, my dear, maybe you should leave the talking to me?"

"I hate it when you do that," Jace said, low and colder than she thought she'd earned. "When you walk in and take over. Like you own everything and everyone. Then expect me to _thank_ you." He turned his shoulder to her and brushed past.

Her words came out by reflex, unbidden; pain for pain. She breathed into the collapsing space between them, "I remember when you _enjoyed_ that."

Then he was gone, leaving behind only his angry words, each a nail of ice pounded into her heart.

Well, damn it. There went her good mood. She swiped a hand beneath one eye ,just being sure, nothing would ever be there, then squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. To Grixis with him, then. Let's see where Chandra stormed off to. That could be fun.

She turned toward the stairs, and noticed Nissa's chair was empty. The elf had left as unobtrusively as she'd arrived.

It was only when she was halfway to the second floor that Liliana realized Nissa hadn't said a single word through the entire meeting.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Welcome to my latest chapter for MTG The Next** **Titan, hope you all enjoy the chapter, but first reviews!**

 **kazikamikaze24: Glad you are enjoying it, enjoy the chapter!**

 **Now onto the story, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **Chandra**

I keep throwing punches. The jolts pass up my arms, irregular, staccato. Gids's punchy-kicky bag of sand swings and wobbles under the blows. If he were here, he'd be telling me to pace myself, keep my arms straight, use short and controlled jabs, so I guess it's just too bad for me he's listening to that Consulate _butt_ instead. Inventors' Fair? The hell!? They _killed_ the best damn inventors on Kaladesh! Baan and his sort. The _Consuls_ and their damn. Stupid. _Rules!_ Now they're trying to hunt down somebody else. Someone else's kid. Maybe someone else's— ***Fwoosh***

The canvas of Gids's punchybag bursts into flames.

"Oh crap!"

There's gotta be—he's gotta have water in here. He's like the king of eight glasses a day. I scan the room. Weights. Wrestle-y floor-pillow dealies. Big ball Damion and I aren't supposed to throw at Jace again. More weights. Rack of weird stuff he never explained. More different weights. There!

I slide across the table and grab for the bucket below the window. It smells funny. Maybe he soaks his head in it, I don't know. Just need the water. Behind me, the canvas bursts, and sand hisses across the floor. Oh, _damn it_.

I pour the bucket over flaming scraps of fabric. That's a big pile of mud. I wonder if it will ruin the floor? I stick the toe of my boot in and trace a line across the mess. Maybe I should make a sand castle.

I hate this. I hate the me that breaks nice people's crap. Even if Gids _is_ being nice to one of the people who killed my— My eyes are stinging again. I drop the bucket and rub them. Sparks and embers drift away. Maybe Gids totally deserves it. Screw his punchybag.

Why am I even here? I don't belong here. I should go back to Regatha. Do that stupid ritual where you spend all night watching a log burn. Bit by bit it starts to glow. Red, orange, yellow, crawling up the bark. Flaring and fading down again. Then it turns grey and falls into ash. _"This is what it means to be consumed by divinity,"_ Mother Luti said. _"Transformed."_ Old life falls away and blah blah blah.

Which divinity? Damion and the other Eldrazi? The guys who screwed over Gids? I can't believe in a god that burns everyone they touch. A god's gotta be better than that.

I remember the pool. Behind the power that shook the strength from my legs. It was there. I saw it. I _swear_ I saw it. She was floating in green and I could breathe there. That's where I want to be. I _need_ to be there. It's an itch I gotta scratch. Crawling up my spine and under my hair. Gotta go _now_.

My feet have already taken me to the door. No, stop. Can't just barge in and...I mean, _weird_ , right? _Rude_. I don't want her to think I'm the sort that just breaks in and...all right, maybe I _am_ the sort who does that, but I'm trying _real hard_ to be polite now. I just need to take a few minutes to—

Damn it, I'm already up the stairs. And I'm stomping down the hall like a _big freak_ because my legs are shaking and my brain is sizzling. This is _stupid_. I'm going to stop putting one foot in front of the other. I'm going to turn around. I'm going to tiptoe down the stairs real quiet, like a little baby mouse. Any second now. Damn it, Chandra, don't open that door. Stop gawping at the ginormous flowers that weren't here a month ago. Bad Chandra, no cinnamon pastry. Just turn around, go back downstairs, and never think of doing this agai—

"Chandra?"

 _FFFFFFFFF..._ "H-hey. Nissa? You in here?" Yeah, that's it. Casual. _Smooth_. Be all nonchalant, like Liliana. Nothing gets to Liliana.

"I mean, heh, 'course you're in here. 'Cause you just talked. I mean, uh, you got a minute? Maybe?" _All right you can stop talking now_.

"Yes. I'm behind the kass—behind the purple flowers."

My hands are shaking. I push branches aside and walk toward her voice. The leaves feel like sandpaper. Just a little farth—

She's sitting cross-legged on a patch of moss. Dark hair unbound, spilling in waves over her shoulders, trailing across her lap. She's woven little flowers around the crown of her head. Butterflies are dancing around her. She pays them no mind. A shaft of light through the leaves paints her in golden sun. She smells like anyone's best childhood memory.

She hasn't taken her eyes off me. Just sits. Listens. Waits. It's making me itchy and I think I'm sweating.

When was the last time I took a bath? Aren't elves supposed to have super dog noses or something?

Also, I'm standing bent over under a branch, holding leaves out of my face like a freaking idiot. "Uh. Can I sit?" I'm breathing through my mouth, fighting for air, struggling not to be loud about it.

"Please." She gestures. Her arm moves like water. Just sorta _flows_.

Then I manage to trip and fall on my face.

"Oh!" she reaches out, but her fingers seem to bounce off an invisible bubble a handspan away from me. "There's a root..." She pulls her hand back, cradles it with her other arm.

"I'm fine!" I blurt into the dirt, then roll on to my knees and grab my head to make sure I really am. Bleeding from my face would be super embarrassing during this conversation. "Are you fine?"

She cocks her head to the side. "I..."

"Ha-ha-ha! 'Course you are. Sorry. I'm the one who fell on her face." _SHUT UP SHUT UP_.

I try to sit like she is, but the armor on my shins digs into my thighs. I lean against a tree, stretch out my legs, cross them at the ankles. Wait! My feet are almost touching her knees. I shouldn't do that. She might not like that. I shift my weight, point them off to one side. Great. Now I have a root jabbing into my butt. She just watches me. Silent. Patient. I giggle and try to push the hair off my sweaty forehead. I'm steaming under her gaze, skin gone molten. "I think I'm crushing your flowers."

"They'll be fine." Her eyes are so deep. When I was a kid, there was this quarry outside Ghirapur. It had filled with water, and moss and floaty green stuff grew all over it. Deep, black, still. If you fell in, you'd never reach the bottom. That's what they said, anyways. I'm standing at the edge, too scared to jump.

She clears her throat. "Can we help with something?" She asked.

We? Maybe she has an elemental somewhere nearby?

I swallow, but my throat's dried up and it takes a few tries. "I—I just thought that... "You know that time on Zendikar, when our minds touched? I felt Zendikar's anger, right? The power of a whole world. _Your_ world. And it was _amazing_. The most incredible thing _ever_. But behind Zendikar, behind the anger and the power, I felt _you_. Your mind. And it was real tranquil, you know? You kinda...centered me, I guess. You were all calm and connected-y."

Then my brain shuts off, but my mouth keeps walking over a cliff.

"When I touched that part of you, it was like when you're swimming, and you just lie back and float, looking up at the sky. Nothing below. Just blue and air above, and everything's cool and still. You can see forever, and don't have to worry..."

 _WHAT IS COMING OUT OF MY FACE?_

I run a hand back through my sweaty hair. "Ha ha, wow. You must think this is dumb, huh? I come in here and start spouting bad poetry—"

The tiniest of smiles. "I thought it eloquent."

I grabbed a strand of my hair and yank until it hurts. " _That will keep me focused, I bet."_ "Anyways. I was thinking there are times when I get super pi—uh, real angry, and usually something blows up. But I think I'd rather be able to touch that place again. What your mind felt like. Calm. _Grounded_. I mean..." I make the mistake of looking up and her eyes are just _there_ , watching, and all the air in my throat jams up and refuses to move.

I struggle to pull in a breath. "I think _Jace_ would prefer that. So I don't wreck his house. I mean, he's got this expensive stuff all over."

"I can teach you to meditate, if you wish."

"Uh, yeah." Let's go with that. Sounds good.

Her pencil-sketch eyebrows go all bendy. "Are you unwell? You seem anxious."

The entire garden is full of floaty sparkly silver things, I spent the last hour trying not to blow up Jace's house, and my heart's slamming against my ribcage like I just ran a marathon. _I'M GREAT THANKS FOR ASKING._

Instead I blurt, "It's just, you've been staring at me this whole time."

"You're speaking to me. Should I not pay attention?" I swear her lip trembles. "Is this not—not polite on your world?" She looks away for the first time, and one hand tugs a grass-stem ear. The snow of her cheek is brushed with sunset color.

 _WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?_

"Um." The new voice made me freeze, I look up and see Damion laying on one of the larger branches looking down at me, I suddenly realize what Nissa meant by we. "Do you want me to leave, cause this seems like it's getting personal?"

"Wha—uh, no! I mean...Sorry!"

I'm on my feet, slamming my head into a low branch. "Ow! S-sorry. This was dumb." I back away, clutching my head, pulling in my elbows to hide my burning eyes, stumbling over the _same damn root_ , shaking, panting for breath, stomach churning. What did I do, what did I do, what did I do?

She's on her feet in the turn of a breath. "Wait."

"I made you feel weird. I should go. I'm just gonna go. Sorry. Bye. Sorry."

"Chandra, please..."

I turn and run, trailing sparks, trees and flowers smearing around me, banging through the door.

"...I think I'm gonna puke."

Nissa watched as Chandra ran and looked upwards at Damion who was sitting in the tree above them. Having been there from the beginning, since he and Nissa get together every two or three days to talk because if they didn't Gideon would put them a room again. "What the hell just happened?" Damion asked and jumped down.

"I believe I offended her in someway."

"She seemed more nervous than upset. She was getting pretty philosophical...maybe starring at someone for a long period of time means something different in on her Plane?

"Perhaps? I should make sure she is alright?"

"I'll join you."

* * *

"What a disaster," Liliana murmured. She leaned one hip against the door into Beefslab's gymnasium. After the scene downstairs, she'd expected fire damage. The sandcastle was a surprise.

Gideon's voice boomed from the stairs behind her, "Up here's where I exercise. I've been trying to train up Chandra and Jace, get everyone able to handle an actual weapon. You know. Just in case."

"I have every confidence it will prove equally fascinating as the rest of your facility," Baan replied, wearily.

 _BANG._

She startled, turning in time to see Chandra hurtle down past Baan and Gideon, a red-haired comet trailing embers from her eyes.

" _SorryIblewupyourthingy_ ," she said in passing, the words floating up from underwater.

Then she was gone, the thunder of her feet rumbling down the stairs.

"Careful! You might fall!" Gideon yelled down after her.

Liliana stepped into the stairwell and glanced upwards. Nissa looked down with hands clasped and fretting at her chest, lips parted with unvoiced confusion, long ears drooping. Damions eyes were wide with concern as his wings looked like they were aboit to snap open to fly after Chandra.

Liliana shook her head and started down the stairs. Someone had to clean up the mess. Chandra was easy to read. _Too_ easy. Yet she commanded incredible power. A convenient combination.

* * *

The Gatewatch, minus Chandra, Liliana, and Jace, were gathered together with the Minister, Gideon called Nissas name a few times before Nissa actually seemed to realize someone was talking to her. She blinked at Gideon, momentarily baffled by his grunting beast-sounds— _words_ , some part of her corrected—and by the club-shapes— _fingers_ —waving before eyes that suddenly saw light instead of heat. "I..." He looked at her expectantly. Rain tapped against the windows of Jace's library. Her words came out broken and creaking, "I'm sorry, Gideon. What did you say?"

He showed his teeth. A grin. "Thought you'd fallen asleep for a minute."

"I was..." A flower struggling out of spring tundra half a world away, delighting in the first touch of the sun. She searched his kind and open face, but found no capacity for understanding. No context she could appeal to. No words that could explain. "...I was just thinking." She looked down at her lap, where a bowl of food sat untouched.

He speared a hunk of meat from his plate with a utensil— _fork_ , she remembered—that was all but lost between his thick, calloused fingers. "I was telling Minister Baan what you did on Zendikar. You and Chandra."

Chandra. The blood surging hot through her freckled cheeks, the sharp, swift movements of her hands. They'd moved like birds. Nissa fed birds sometimes, in the garden. They would peer at the seeds cupped in her hand, hungry and needing, but fluttered off when she moved the wrong way. Or they attacked Damion...birds hwre don't like him for some unknown reason. She'd moved the wrong way, and Chandra had flown.

All her senses and instincts were off. Ravnica had beaten against her since she arrived, the hot, constant breath of a beast on the back of her neck. The sun was blinding white, the smells thick and unpleasant. Every surface seemed to have edges made to cut and tear.

An endless array of faces milled and circled the streets, strange and terrifying. More faces than she thought could ever exist. They melted into one another, became a single monstrosity with a thousand heads that jostled past her. A walk around the building left her sweaty and trembling. She had to crouch and study the lone flowers that struggled through the cracked cobbles, had to ignore the milling, noisy shapes that shoved and kicked and poked.

There was no silence. Discordant anvils rang by day. Endless banquets hissed and roared from a thousand ovens. The wail of sirens and the crackle of mana by night. A million voices constantly yelling and screaming, crying in pain and grief, lust and anger, overlapping in babble. She hadn't heard the shush of wind through trees for three months. She hadn't heard _nothing_.

The faces. The noise. The million and one unfamiliar smells that settled in the back of her throat to gag her. When it was too much to bear, she'd curl up in the garden, cover her ears, and the trees would hold her safe.

Everything here was hard, and bright, and sharp.

Chandra. Eyes like sunrises. Every passing thought writ bold across her face. Fearless.

 _"Oh, Zendikar, how did I offend her? What did I do?"_ But her friend—her _best_ friend, her constant companion for two score years—couldn't answer. The corner of her mind where Zendikar had lived was silent and empty. " _There's so much I don't understand. I wish you could be here."_

She'd never been among so many, and never been so alone.

"Nissa?"

"Yes." She lifted a small red fruit from her bowl. _Tomato_ , Jace called it. Taut skin flush with water, smelling faintly of acid. "What did you want to know?"

Baan laid his utensils across the edges of his plate at an angle so precise it hurt her eyes, then steepled his fingers. "Indulge my curiosity, if you will, Miss...Nissa." He frowned as the title made him hiss. "I am given to understand you have the ability to perceive and manipulate naturally occurring patterns of magic. Through the land, I believe?"

The golden filigree over his coat was ticking softly, a counterpoint to the clock on the far side of the room. She could hear energy within it sizzling and snapping, imperceptible to Gideon, and perhaps to Baan; his ears were as small as a human's.

"Leylines," she said. "Yes."

His nostrils pinched as he inhaled sharply. "A fascinating inversion. On my world, similar energies stream through the upper reaches of the _sky_. Aether, it is called. We siphon this power—on mountaintops or from thopters—store it within mechanical devices, and release it for various productive uses. Do people do the same on your world?"

 _Dagger-blade stones floating in the air, bending the world. A web, a cage...a lattice._

A wave of nausea passed through her. "No," she said to her bowl, shoulders drawing inwards. "Some did, but they..." The tales piled up against the back of her teeth. Where could she even begin? "The land isn't—we ask. We don't take."

"Ask?" Baan echoed, turning the word sideways in his mouth. "Ask _whom?_ Your leylines are naturally occurring phenomena, surely?" His voice thinned with saline contempt. The shape of his eyes changed, tissues settling into harsh angles. "Would you ask the mountain for its kind permission to shape the iron at its root? Would you beg the tree for the fruit that sustains you?"

"Yes," she said, and nothing more. She placed the tomato in her mouth and bit down. The water flooded out— _the sharp light of a white sun beating down, rows of dark earth spiced with the remains of those gone before; gently tilled lanes, the hush of elves and dryads swaying among them; tilting cans to set brief, borrowed rains tapping and shivering down leaves_.

A lifetime carried in a mouthful of sweet flesh. Months of patience. _Thank you_ , she thought, and swallowed.

Gideon shifted in his chair, leaning forward, subtly placing himself between them. "Minister, things are...different on Nissa's world."

"I see." Baan then looked at Damion, "And what about you Mr. Damion? Do you posses any unique abilities?"

Gideon was about to interrupt but Damion spoke, "Oh yeah, my mom taught me lots of things! She taught me how to fight, use magic, and drain the mana out of-" A vine wrapped around his mouth preventing him from speaking more. All eyes went to Nissa.

Before anyone could say anything Gideon spoke up, "Sorry, but um...we can't have all our secrets be revealed now can we?" He said hoping Baan believed it.

"I see, my apologies."

The heavy door at the far end of the room opened, and Jace trudged out looking drained. Lavinia drifted into his wake. When he muttered, "I could really use drink," she pushed a mug of tea into his hand, its steam fragrant with lemon, hibiscus, and several herbs Nissa didn't recognize. He blinked. "How did you know to...?"

"It's my job to anticipate you, Guildpact," she said, crisply. "Should I get someone to reheat your dinner?"

"No. Thanks, Lavinia." He pulled a chair out—old oak, dark and worn from years of sun. Nissa wondered where the chair had come from. It was far older than the house. The life it had held was just a whisper now, a shadow cast on a cloudy day.

Jace's plate contained some yellow-white mass involving cheese and grains. Even cold, she could smell it from the far side of the room. He frowned. "Did they put _broccoli_ in this?"

"You need iron," Lavinia said.

"I hate—"

"You won't even notice it's there." Her voice brooked no argument.

Baan regarded him coolly. "You were bullied as a child."

Jace coughed on his first mouthful of food and struggled to swallow. "I, uh, don't remember my childhood." A dozen unvoiced thoughts flickered behind his eyes.

The Kaladeshi raised his brows. "One need not consciously recollect an event to fall into habitual behaviors determined by the experience. It is not inconceivable that one could forget their entire life. I would safely wager that were that the case, the subject would still tend to make similar lapses of judgement, and would be drawn to associate with the same sorts of people." He waved a hand, the swish of an ox's tail dismissing flies. "The nature of mortals is not so malleable as some would naively suppose. A person of religious inclination will always find something greater than themselves to place their faith in. A criminal will forever remain a criminal."

Jace put his fork down. "That's a very...deterministic point of view, Minister."

Baan blinked, first one eye, then the other. Not a wink, but some form of body language unique to him, unlike any Nissa had seen before. "The mortal corpus, even the mind, is merely a series of sophisticated mechanisms. It is simplicity itself to observe a mechanism in action, and draw appropriate conclusions."

There was a moment of silence. "Mortals are weird." Damion states before eating what seemed to be some kind of meat.

Jace cleared his throat. "Did you enjoy the tour?"

Nissa looked down at her food. She plucked out a piece of steamed fish with her fingers and let the flavor melt across her tongue. _Quicksilver bodies flickering under green shadows. The grit of suspended peat, the faint tang of metal._ It was not her first language, but there all the same. _Thank you,_ she thought. _I will use what you've given with wisdom._

Baan's chair creaked as he settled back. "There are a number of structural and organizational deficiencies I believe it best you be made aware of. The load-bearing beams on the lowest levels are cracked. Application of sufficient force would cause them to give way. The arrangement of furniture in most of the bedrooms is inefficient, leaving many "pockets"—if you will excuse the imprecision of the term—of floor space too small to make practical use of. There are seventeen books that were returned to incorrect shelves in this library. A number of lamps on the second floor lack appropriate protection from drafts..."

"Maybe I should write this down," Gideon said, with a lopsided smile.

"I'll remember it all," Jace said.

Baan paused. "I am given to understand that the incident within Mister Gideon's gymnasium was the responsibility of a pyromancer in your employ?"

"'Employ' might be too strong a word."

"Regardless of the particulars of your arrangement, the lack of appropriate precautionary measures is deplorable. You possess a library of admirable scope and selection. To a pyromancer, this is merely so much kindling. If a conflagration were to start in here—"

"I have...differences with Chandra, but I trust her to..." Jace paused. "Where _is_ Chandra?"

Nissa looked up. Chandra's usual seat at the table was empty.

Gideon shrugged. "I've been looking for her myself. We need to have a talk about proper care of other people's equipment. Last I saw, she was running down from the roof—" Her breath caught. "—and Liliana was following her."

Jace looked up sharply. Lavinia, standing watch by the door, cleared her throat. "Guildpact. Permission to report?"

"What? Yes!" Jace turned entirely around in his chair. "You know where they are?"

Lavinia straightened, almost imperceptibly. "Some time ago, Captain Jura requested I have someone follow Countess Vess when she leaves."

Jace glared at Gideon, who shrugged. "Necromancer. Only prudent." He put another forkful of steak in his mouth.

Lavinia shifted weight to her other foot, setting her armor to humming, a tone no one else in the room could hear. "She contacted Monk Nalaar—"

Baan leaned forward in his chair. His eyes narrowed.

"They spent the afternoon wandering the market district, then, ah...planeswalked."

" _Together?_ " Jace asked.

"Yes, sir."

Gideon put down his fork. "Where to?"

"No way for us to know, sir."

" _Nalaar,_ " Baan said, softly. He pronounced it with the same enunciation Chandra used, and none of the others had ever quite managed to reproduce. "You must excuse my consternation. That is a name I have not heard for many years."

Jace pushed his plate aside and laid his hands on the table. "I need you to explain that."

"I would not say it is my pleasure to do so, but I do believe it is my obligation." Baan folded his hands in his lap. "Pia and Kiran Nalaar were early luminaries of the renegade movement. They were criminals, I regret to say, engaged in the theft and unlawful redistribution of Consulate aether resources."

"They're relatives of Chandra's?" Gideon asked. "I didn't even know she was from Kaladesh..."

"Her parents, unless I greatly miss my guess. Twelve years ago, they compelled their daughter—her name was not recorded—to assist in their smuggling operations. I am not familiar with the details, but the girl escaped custody when she manifested dangerous pyromantic abilities. The Nalaars attempted to hide in the countryside. A manhunt brought them to ground in Bunarat, but during the attempt to take them into custody, the village was set ablaze. All three were reported dead by the officer in charge."

"Twelve years?" Gideon said, aghast. "But she's only—!"

"She would have been a _child_ ," Nissa said, softly.

Baan opened his mouth, closed it again, and looked inward, tapping his fingers on the filigree covering his sleeve. "Please understand," he said at last. "This was performed under the authority of a previous administration. Even then, these actions were considered...extraordinary. The officer in charge of the investigation pursued despite an official recall. I believe formal charges were brought against him for the expense."

" _For the expen—!_ " Jace sputtered.

"I don't know what her parents did," Gideon said, his mouth a hard line. "I don't much care, either. Whatever _their_ sins were, they had _nothing_ to do with Chandra." His eyes narrowed. "Is she impulsive? Sure. I'd be stupid not to say that. But her heart's the size of the moon."

Baan laced his fingers and rested his chin on them. "Mister Gideon, aether is in the very air we breathe. It is in the rain that falls to earth, and in the leaves of the trees. We only dare touch such power through the gloves of artifice; a million pieces of instrumentality, each safely performing its assigned function. By rigorous adherence to this method, we avoid 87.4% of the accidents provoked by mages drawing upon mana directly. If you will forgive me for saying so, pyromancers are particularly prone to...collateral damage." Baan inhaled slowly, fuchsia eyes darting around some image that only existed in his thoughts. "In the past, pyromancers have precipitated...terrible tragedies. Not always by their intent, but universally by their nature."

"So have you outlawed _matches?_ " Gideon asked, with a severity Nissa hadn't heard from him before.

Baan lowered his eyes. "May I assume, based upon your reactions, that Miss Nalaar never spoke to you of this?"

"Not a word," Gideon said. He stared at his unfinished meal, one hand curling into a fist.

Jace looked at him sympathetically, "She didn't confide in _any_ of us."

Gideon shook his head slightly. "But she should have felt that she _could_."

"That was her choice to make. Not ours," Nissa murmured. She laid a fingertip along the rim of her bowl and slid it down, setting the pottery to ringing. "We all have scars we don't want others to touch."

"Some more than others." Damion said quietly.

Chandra had sat across from her, cheeks burning, twisting flower-stems around her fingers, asking for nothing more than a moment of peace. For something that could slow the frantic, bird-like stammer of her heart. But she'd moved the wrong way. Chandra had fluttered and flown.

"If I may inquire," Baan said, "Where do you suppose she might have gone? Surely she could not be so rash as to depart for Kaladesh."

Nissa looked up. Jace and Gideon were exchanging a look. Both glanced at her.

They stood as one.

Jace turned toward the coat room. "I'll head to Kaladesh. It should be easy for me to—"

Lavinia appeared in his path, one hand resting on the pommel her sword. "Again?" she said, in a weary, disappointed tone.

He frowned up at her. "You can't expect me to sit here and do paperwork!"

She nodded to Gideon and Nissa. "They can find Monk Nalaar. They can't be the Guildpact. And I believe that Damion is already going there."

Gideon laid a meaty hand on Jace's shoulder. "She's not wrong. Think of the bigger picture, Jace. I can take this one. Although," he winced, "I'm not looking forward to it. You know how she gets when someone tells her what to do..."

Kaladesh. Ghirapur. A city of brass and industry. Like Ravnica, a place that never slept, where the wind smelled of metal and cracking energies, and ceaseless tides of mortal faces buffeted to and fro. An ocean of strangers, gawping and whispering at her. Staring. Pointing. Shoving.

"I'll go." The words had flown before she'd thought them.

Gideon turned to her. "Are you sure?" His eyes drifted down to her trembling fingers. "Nissa, you don't have to go alone."

She balled her hands into fists, stilling them. "I _will_ go to Kaladesh. Baan can guide Damion and I. I'll..."

What? Bring Chandra home? She _was_ home. Get her out of trouble? She was a woman grown. She could do as she pleased. Protect her? Chandra's heart was a baloth. She needed no champion.

"...I'll stand with her." It felt right.

Damion grinned, "Looks like you have to lead her as well." He said Looking at the Baan. "And if anything happens I can take care of it with ease." The purple markings appear on his body for a moment before disappearing.

Gideon nodded, "Alright, but be carful, you don't know whet will be there."

Damion nodded and turned to Nissa, "Ready when you are."

Nissa gave a small smile, happy she wouldn't be going alone.

* * *

The three Planswalkers appeared on Kaladesh, the members of the Gatewatch thanked Baan for guiding them here before Nissa went to search for Chandra and Liliana. Damion however closed his eyes and used his powers to search for any Planeswalkers on the Plane. There were quite a few so he told Baan he would investigate them and report back when finished.

"This place is so full of energy yet they limit their own use of it, this Plane has more than enough to go around." Damion said to himself as he pulled information from people walking by him. He was currently walking in the direction of the nearest Planeswalker spark he didn't recognize.

 _"Don't try and understand their motives."_ Spoke a female voice inside his head, _"Like most, the leaders appear to want it all for themselves."_

"Yeah, I guess." He glanced at a few nearby automatons, "This place it to machine like for my liking." He paused when a Gearhulk walked by, "I take it back, this place might actually be fun after all."

 _"Don't forget why you are here Damion. Your friends are somewhere in the city."_

"I didn't forget mom." He replied. "I just want to get a feel for this place before I look, besides I'm sure they don't need my help just yet, plus I actually have a job to do right now anyway. The Planeswalker should be somewhere nearby." Damion walks by a few people who seemed to be presenting something and he wanted to take a closer look, he took a few steps closer before something grabs his wrist and lifts up up off the ground. Since he was still physically 13, Damion was pretty easy to pick up in his human form, especially by a large automaton.

"What the hell do you think you're doing kid!?" Screamed an angry man next to the automaton.

Damion blinked a few times, "I just wanted to get a better look at what that was." Damion says pointing to the machine, "Can you let me go now? Your machine is hurting my wrist."

"How about I have it throw you out of the fair for trying to sabotage me!?"

 _"Annoying pest, it seems he will need someone to teach him some manners."_ Spoke the Eldrazi Titan.

"No, I can do it, I just wanted to see how strong the machine was." Damion said as the purple marking on his body appeared for a second before fading.

"What the hell are you talking about!?"

"Sorry I wasn't talking to you." Damion said looking at the man.

"Then who were-" The man stopped when Damion revealed his demonic features and grinned. His hand grabbed the machine and ripped the mechanical arm off of him. He lunged forward tore into the machine with his claws and teeth with no hesitation, shredding it to pieces. The man took a step back only to stop when a black spear was held against his throat by a VERY angry Avacyn.

Standing where the automaton was a moment ago was Damion grinning at his handiwork, he turned to look at the man who stepped back in fear. The man would have run but the small Angel pressed the blade of her spear into his neck a bit more. His eyes were glowing an unearthly purple color, the man tried to move away but he seemed frozen in place, nothing in his body would work. He looked down at his arm before it started to mutate with purple tentacles. The mutation spread slowly up the mans arm, his eyes darted around at the people walking by, nobody seemed to even notice what was happening. The mutation soon started acting on its own and wrapped around the mans neck choking the life out of him, a few moments later he fell to the ground as his body reverted back to normal.

Damion smiled as his eyes turned back to normal, his demon features disappeared as Avacyn put her spear away, _"Come Damion, let's see what this Plane has to offer, and find your friends as well."_

Damion smiled, "Okay!" He said happily. The Eldrazi and mini Arc Angel walked away from the dead inventor, not a moment later the area was filled with screams in horror as the body was discovered. Little did the people know that this was only the beginning. Starting soon, things on Kaladesh were going to change.


End file.
